Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group (MSIG) and automotive marketplace Carro have partnered to launch the first region-wide behaviour and usage-based car insurance programme in Southeast Asia.
The programme will first launch in Indonesia, followed by Thailand, Malaysia, and the wider Southeast Asia region. Car ownership is rapidly growing in Indonesia, but the area also suffers from a high rate of road traffic injuries and deaths. It currently has around 12 deaths per 100,000 people, much higher than its neighbours such as Singapore (4.8) and Australia (5.2).
By the end of 2021, Carro expects to provide over 2,000 cars with usage based insurance in the region and grow the numbers three times by 2024.
With usage-based insurance, premium pricing reflects actual driving behaviour and distance travelled. Aside from encouraging safer driving, Carro and MSIG will also provide additional incentives such as services at the Carro Workshop to reward careful drivers.
“While user behaviour auto insurance is more widespread in the US and Europe, it is just beginning to take off in Southeast Asia,” said Aaron Tan, CEO and Founder of Carro. “We aim to bring data science and artificial intelligence in the insurance industry through this collaboration with MSIG, who have a significant regional presence and – like us – have also been extensively exploring the UBI space.”
“We are confident that this new offering with Carro will build a new business model for car insurance in the Southeast Asian region and beyond, while also directly improving the customer experience,” said Tomoyuki Motoyama, general manager of digital strategy department, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance. “We will be conducting demonstrations and collaborative research projects with Carro, and the learnings from this knowledge-sharing journey will be used to develop global products and services that better serve the needs of Southeast Asian drivers.”
