Patent Application
20110137687
This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of British Patent Application No. 0921467.7, filed Dec. 8, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an insurance system and, in particular, a group insurance system adapted to manage insurance to a pre-arranged group of individuals. This invention also relates to a method for managing insurance to a group. In particular, it relates to a method for managing group insurance to a pre-arranged group. It also relates to a method of soliciting for insurance for a group.
2. Description of Related Art
The provision of insurance, such as car insurance, is based on the calculation of risk of the individual having an accident or their car being stolen or damaged. It is known that certain profiles of individuals are inherently a greater risk than others. For example, statistics show that young male drivers have a higher tendency to be involved in accidents than middle aged women drivers. Accordingly, it is also known that present insurance providers create bundles of insured individuals and insure the bundle using statistical techniques to set the premiums for each individual driver. The factors used to create the bundles of insured individuals may be based on the engine size of the car, the type of the car, age, gender, accident history of the driver, where the car is kept overnight, the amount of night time driving, the amount of business use of the vehicle, the profession of the driver or combinations of the above or other factors.
Many insurance providers have significant expenditure relating to advertising for customers and, sometimes, particular types of customers. Thus, some insurance providers set out to attract specific types of drivers such as women, older people, or people with several years of “no claims discount”. By attracting customers of a particular type that are considered safe, the overall risk of a bundle of drivers is lower and therefore lower insurance premiums can be offered. Insurance providers also expend significant resources into the bundling of insured parties in order to appropriately cover the risk while remaining competitive.
According to a first aspect of the invention, we provide an insurance system for managing insurance of a group to be insured, the group comprising at least two members, the system comprising;
a group creation tool adapted to receive information relating to the members of the group to be insured and adapted to send the information of the group to an insurance provider;
a premium calculator adapted to receive the information of the group and calculate a premium for the group based on said information.
This is advantageous as the insurance system provides a quotation or premium based upon a group of individuals that are supplied to it by a member of the group. This system is particularly suitable for use in the provision of motor vehicle insurance and, in the interest of clarity, will be discussed hereinafter in relation to motor vehicle insurance. It will be appreciated that the system need not be limited to motor vehicle insurance. The overhead of bundling drivers is reduced as the group of drivers submitted via the group creation tool replaces the conventionally used bundle system.
Preferably, the group creation tool is adapted to receive information of the user of the tool (i.e. the chairman) and the other members of the group. Therefore the chairman recruits a group of customers for the insurance provider.
Preferably the insurance system includes a member removal tool adapted to receive information of at least one member of the group that is to be expelled from the group, the premium calculator adapted to recalculate the premium of the group based on group minus the expelled member or members. Alternatively or in addition, the insurance system may include a limitation tool adapted to receive information of at least one member of the group that is to be subject to different insurance conditions and limit the terms of the member's insurance. This may also involve on a recalculation of the premium of the group. Thus, a member of the group can be “sin binned” or a curfew applied for certain time.
Preferably the insurance system includes a member addition tool adapted to receive information on at least one potential new member of the group, the premium calculator adapted to recalculate the premium of the group based on group plus the added member or members.
The insurance system may include a payment tool adapted to receive payment details for payment of the premium and insurance registration means adapted to register the group as being insured after receipt of the payment details.
According to a second aspect of the invention, a method for managing insurance of a group, the group comprising at least two members, the method comprising:
This is advantageous as the grouping of individuals to be insured is performed by a chairman of the group or a group administrator or administrators. Thus, the user is typically a member of the group and thus has an interest in keeping the insurance premium of the group low. Further, as the user or group administrator and other members of the group are collectively responsible for the premium, there is a pressure on the behaviour of the group to ensure the premium is kept as low as possible, by good driving for example.
The group creation tool may be a software application.
Preferably, the method also includes the step of providing insurance to the group in exchange for payment of the premium.
Preferably, the method additionally includes the step of providing means to administer the group once insurance has been provided comprising;
Preferably, the method additionally includes the step of providing means to administer the group once insurance has been provided comprising;
According to a third aspect of the invention we provide a method of soliciting for insurance for a group, the method comprising;
This is advantageous as the insurance company receives a pre-arranged group of customers for insurance. Also, the choice of members of the group is selected by the members themselves, or a chairman, and not the insurance company. The group may set its own rules for how members are chosen. These rules may be different from the rules of other groups. Therefore, the members of the group may receive a lower premium than if they were bundled by the insurance provider in accordance with the provider's selection criteria.
The method may include the steps of; identifying a potential new member for the group; providing details of the new member to the insurance provider of the group; and receiving a revised premium for insurance of the group including the potential new member.
This is advantageous as the chairman of the group or other group members will be encouraged to actively recruit new members with the motivation of reducing the premium of the group. Thus, the method may include the step of accepting the revised premium resulting in the potential new member becoming a member of the group.
The method may include the steps of; identifying a member of the group to be removed from the group; providing details of the member to be removed to the insurance provider; and receiving a quotation for insurance of the group without the removed member forming part of the group.
Thus, the chairman of the group or other members of the group will be actively encouraged to identify members of the group that are a higher risk and remove them from the group. Therefore, the members of the group can reduce the premium of the group by excluding certain members from the group. This may reduce the number high risk customers that the insurance provider insures.
The method may include the steps of; identifying a member of the group to have limitations placed on the provision of their insurance; providing details of the member to the insurance provider; and receiving a quotation for insurance of the group with the limitations placed on the identified member of the group.
Thus, the chairman of the group or other members of the group can actively ensure that the insurance for the more dangerous drivers in the group is limited to reduce the risk. Thus, bad drivers can be restricted to reduced a mileage or limited to day time driving only.
There now follows, by way of example only, a detailed description of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which;
An embodiment of the insurance scheme is described herein in relation to insurance for motor vehicles. It will be appreciated that other forms of insurance, such as home insurance, could be provided in accordance with the invention.
The majority of insurance companies provide call centres or websites for people who want insurance to obtain a quotation. The individuals supply information requested by the insurance company about them and their car. Using the information, the insurance company can calculate the risk associated with that individual so that a premium can be calculated. Insurance companies typically use the information collected to define bundles of insured drivers. The premiums are set by using statistical techniques to determine cost of insuring the bundle. The insurance company determines which individuals qualify for which bundle. Substantial resources are required by the insurance company to manage the system of bundling drivers and providing premiums. There is also substantial cost involved in attracting new customers and, in particular, low risk new customers. It is advantageous for an insurance company to attract safe, low risk, drivers as the more there are in each bundle, the more competitive the premium and the more profitable the insurance provider.
Individuals may not always get a good deal with the present method of the insurance provider bundling drivers together. For example, a safe driver may be bundled with high risk drivers on the basis of the high performance car they drive. Therefore, their premium may be unfairly high.
The present method allows the individuals to form their own groups to be insured as a group rather than the insurance company forming their own bundles.
It is advantageous to provide insurance in this way as the self formed group has a sense of belonging and community and a responsibility to the other members of the group to be a low risk. Thus, peer pressure plays a role in ensuring that each member attempts to be a low risk. This can lead to safer driving to ensure that the premium of the group does not increase.
Thus, with reference to
At step 2, the chairman completes the forms and submits this information to the insurance company. An insurance server 22 is provided, which may be a computer server running software to operate as an insurance system. The insurance server 22 at the insurance provider receives the group information, which includes details of at least two individuals. A premium calculator 23, which is software, determines the risk from the information provided and returns a premium for the group at step 3. The chairman can then choose to accept or reject the offer of insurance at the premium quoted. There may be a system to allow selected or all members of the group to vote on whether or not to accept the premium.
The chairman can confirm whether or not the premium is acceptable by selecting an appropriate option. At step 4 the server 22 receives the confirmation from the chairman. Depending on the confirmation, insurance is provided or not. Step 5 shows insurance being provided and this step includes the relevant processes required to do so. This may include known methods of taking payment such as over a secure internet connection.
Thus, the chairman or other recruits actively recruit the individuals for the group. This reduces the cost to the insurance company. Also, as the chairman selects the members of the group, he can keep his own insurance premium down by selecting safe drivers to join his group. Thus, an owner of a performance car can save money by administering a group containing safe drivers or drivers with lower powered cars. The chairman of the group may be offered an incentive to create and administer the group. Incentives include a reduction in their payment to the premium of the group or a “cash back” award or improved insurance provisions, such as a guaranteed courtesy car or breakdown recovery. Members may join groups for their affiliation with their club or football team, for example. Thus, the groups can be created to appeal to supporters of sport, fans of musician or supporters of charities. Insurance companies may be able to offer more competitive premiums to groups, as the overheads in attracting that number of new customers is reduced. Further, it may be found that groups are a lower risk than the sum of the individual risks of the members, as the sense of responsibility to the group encourages safer driving.
Thus at step 50 the insurance server provides the names of the members and the rankings of the members in the group. At step 51, the server receives instructions from the chairman that Scott should be removed from the group. At step 52, the new premium is calculated for the group. Therefore, the chairman and maybe also the members of the group will identify and exclude bad risks. This is advantageous for the insurance provider as its customers are encouraged to reduce the risk of their group therefore improving the overall risk profile of the insurance provider's customers. This reduces the administration costs for the insurance provider as well as advertising costs as the groups will attract safe drivers rather that extensive advertising being required.
The system may also include a limitation tool as shown in
The limitation tool may be used to limit the performance or change the driving characteristics of Scott's car. A programmable module that interfaces with the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) of the car is adapted to alter the car's ECU in response to signals received wirelessly. The programmable module is connectable to a mobile telephone network and is adapted to receive encrypted programming signals from the insurance system. Thus, the limitation tool may include the option to limit the speed that the car can reach. Alternatively, it may limit the revs that the car can reach which results in more measured acceleration. The limits that the limitation tool applies to the car's ECU may also be linked to the premium that is calculated. Thus, when the limitations are in place, the car and driver are, on average, statistically safer drivers and therefore the premium calculator may adjust their contribution to the group's premium.
Thus, in
If driver Scott was ultimately removed from the group he may be required to insure himself as an individual or use a difference insurance company. Alternatively he may be moved to a different group. Thus, he may be eligible to join a different group based on the car he drives, where the premium is more appropriate for his risk. The insurance system may provide a league of groups through which a driver may be demoted when being removed from a group. Further, a member of a group may apply for promotion to a different group in the league, which has a lower premium. The time of promotion may be determined by the insurance system.
The chairman can select one or more of the individuals using the selection boxes 53 and then submit his request to the insurance server 22 using button 64 (step 70). In
The member addition tool 60 may include the option of applying a probationary period in which the driving of the new member or potential new member can be monitored. The insurance system may therefore include a probation period reporter that collects information about the driving style of the member or potential new member and presents it to the chairman. Thus, during the probationary period the insurance system may present the chairman with reports on the driving of the new member or a rating. After the probationary period has expired, the chairman can then use the member addition tool to submit his decision to formally accept the new member into the group or reject them.
The limitation tool may also be used when adding members to the group. For example, new members of the group or potential new members of the group may be subject to limitations in their insurance until they have “proved” themselves as being sufficiently safe. This may be during their probationary period or may be for a longer or shorter amount of time.
Each member of the group may receive feedback on their driving based on predetermined risk factors. Thus, the system may be adapted to assess the average mileage of a member, the amount of night time mileage and the amount of fast driving, which may be the percentage of driving over the speed limit for the particular road they are travelling along. The system may allocate points based and the above factors and create warnings depending on whether a member is close to or exceeded set thresholds.
Thus, a member may indicate the maximum mileage they intend to cover in the year that the insurance is provided (the system may use other durations). The member could agree a maximum mileage of; 3,000, 5,000, 7,500, 10,000 or 13,000 miles. A warning may be generated if the member exceeds the equivalent monthly maximum mileage.
A member may receive warnings or incur points depending on their driving. The warnings may be advisory and prompt the member to improve their driving habits. Points will accumulate and when they exceed 12 points, the insurance policy could be cancelled or the chairman and/or other group members may be informed. The member could then be removed from the group using the member removal tool.
A traffic light system can be used to reflect the number of points the member has incurred and any warnings they have received:
A report of the points and warnings may be emailed to each member Points may be removed from a policy under special circumstances and may be performed by a further tool under the control of the chairman or other group members, for example.
Although the embodiment described herein relates to a group of individuals, the group may include other groups or a combination of individuals and groups.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0921467.7 | Dec 2009 | GB | national |
