The growing pressure on auto insurers to support improved driver safety and to bring claims inflation and prices under control will make technology increasingly central to competitiveness, according to global professional services company Towers Watson.

"Already, the recent expansion in companies offering usage-based insurance (UBI) policies, based on in-car telematics devices, is putting those companies without a UBI proposition at risk of eventually being left with the 'bad' risks, particularly among younger drivers," says Tony Lovick, director of analytics for Towers Watson's DriveAbility UBI program.

But this is just the beginning, according to Lovick. He cited the comments of Association of British Insurers director-general, Otto Thoresen, at its recent Annual Motor Conference in which he outlined five priorities for the industry in 2012, including reducing young driver deaths, whiplash claims, fraud and uninsured driving.

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