Big-Data Disruption Gets Real for Car Insurers as O2 Expands
- Established insurers have long feared incursion of new players
- Google Compare tried, and failed, to get into price comparison
Traffic moves around the Old Street roundabout, also referred to as 'Silicon Roundabout,' in the area known as 'Tech City', in this photograph taken with a tilt-shift lens in London, U.K., on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2014. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is close to an agreement for Amazon.com Inc. to rent about 400,000 square feet (37,160 square meters) of office space near the London technology hub known as Silicon Roundabout, a person with knowledge of the talks said last month.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergAuto insurance may be on the brink of an incursion from mobile-phone and technology companies.
Telefonica SA’s O2 unit -- one of the first mobile operators in Britain to offer car insurance -- expanded its product line in February to include telematics boxes, which track people’s driving habits and can lead to cheaper premiums for youngsters. That’s stoking speculation that a wave of fintech companies will push into the market and disrupt the way insurers interact with customers.