Verisk Debuts Auto Rating Rules

By Wayne Adam
Contributing Writer

ISO, the lead provider of information for property/casualty insurance risk, has reported its first GeoMetric rating rule for personal and commercial vehicles in 33 states.

Many insurance companies use GeoMetric via telematics as an optional feature to insurers to gain their business.

The GeoMetric rating rule uses ISO’s Risk Analyzer, a set of advanced predictive modeling tools, that calculates hundreds of variables related to where people live, work, and drive and then, measures the risks involved at each geographic location.

The GeoMetric takes this information and applies geographic risk measurements for each vehicle's driving location, resulting in a simple report showing the number of miles and time traveled by the insured within each risk band, along with the assessed risk. Vehicles garaged in higher bands but frequently driven to lower bands may be eligible for discounts of up to 25 percent.

"The new telematics-based rating rules we filed are a significant step in the evolution of usage-based insurance," said Kevin Thompson, president of ISO Insurance Programs and Analytic Services. "By assessing the risk of actual driving locations while protecting policyholder privacy, GeoMetric reports make it easier for insurers to use the GPS information collected via telematics to identify and award discounts to safer risks."

As a member of the Verisk Insurance Solutions Group, ISO has been the front runner for property/casualty insurance risk information since 1971.

Verisk provides commercial and personal lines of insurance, including statistical, actuarial, underwriting, claims information; policy language, fraud identification tools and technical services.Currently, 19 states have sanctioned the rules.