Survey: Over half of Canadians willing to embrace technology for personalized car insurance discount

A new survey by belairdirect has found that many Canadians are willing to have telematics devices and/or apps monitor their driving if it means lower auto insurance premiums.

The web-based survey, conducted by Leger for belairdirect, sampled 1,551 French or English-speaking Canadians aged 18 years old or older, from July 17 to July 21, 2018. Using data from Statistics Canada, the results of the survey were weighed based on gender, age, region, mother tongue, education and presence of minor children in the household to ensure a representative sample of the entire population.

The survey found the following:

• Although 71% of vehicle owners drive at least five days a week, 32% are actually driving less than 10,000 kilometres a year.
• The top four reasons for Canadians to avoid driving are:
• • Saving money related to owning and operating a vehicle (75%)
  • Reducing carbon footprint, emissions and helping the environment (36%)
  • Limiting the number of kilometres on the vehicle (32%)
  • Cutting down on the commute to work (11%)
• 80% of Canadians agree that technology helps simplify their lives; of those who answered, those in the 18-34 age bracket were the ones who embrace technology the most.
• 74% of Canadians said they would agree to use an app that monitors their driving habits in order to receive a “personalized car insurance premium.”

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