How Camera Data Can Strengthen a Fleet’s Insurance Renewal

In the early days of video telematics, one selling point was the possibility of lower insurance costs for the fleet. As cameras have become more common, just showing that a fleet installed the technology may no longer be enough to get a discount.

Today, insurers want to know what happens after the system identifies a problem. That means a new set of tasks for the fleet manager: defining who reviews the alert, how quickly the driver is coached, how recurring behaviors are documented and addressed, and whether the fleet can show measurable improvement.

“There was a point in time when carriers might have asked, ‘Do you have telematics?’ and that was a checkbox on the supplement,” said Michael Kiris, vice president of fleet transportation and risk at Keystone, an insurance agency network. “But now it’s: What are you doing with it?”

First and foremost, insurance pricing depends on a fleet’s loss history, claim frequency and severity, type of operation, driver records, and broader market conditions. Many of those factors are beyond the fleet’s immediate control.

Camera and telematics programs are within the fleet’s control and help to demonstrate to the insurer that the fleet understands its risks and actively manages them.

“We can’t guarantee that if you do this, a certain outcome will happen with your premium,” said Marcus Raspberry, risk and business manager for fleet programs at Amerisure. “But by having these technologies in your vehicles, we want to reduce the losses that occur. We want to see lower claim activity, frequency and severity.”

It’s All About the Story

So how do fleets show positive trends? It’s about turning raw data reports into something the underwriter can digest.

The best submission to the underwriter explains where the fleet started, which risks it identified, what management did in response, and whether driver behavior or loss performance improved.

Kiris said Keystone develops a narrative that presents the client in the most favorable light, with telematics data a key part.

“If we can show a true story with a downward trend — where they were and how much better they became over time — and tell how it happened through telematics, coaching and driver training, that tells a much different story than just looking at cab reports, CSA scores, and MVRs,” he said.

In one example, a camera telematics customer improved its average driver score from 850 to 950 over three months. That change followed an active process of reviewing events, coaching drivers, and conducting training.

Another report covering the same three-month period showed 3,000 hours of driving, with only 11 minutes of speeding. “Put yourself in the underwriter’s shoes,” Kiris said. “That looks excellent to me. And that’s not fluff. That’s true data.”

For a fleet preparing for renewal, the data is more meaningful when it connects results to specific actions and translates safety data into evidence of managed risk. That includes changes in speeding and distracted-driving events, driver-score trends, coaching activity, repeated behaviors, preventable collisions, and claim frequency or severity.

Renewal Prep Checklist

Just like waiting to study for a test the night before, a fleet’s improvement story cannot be assembled just before an insurance submission is due — fleets need time to establish a baseline and document trends.

That makes camera and telematics management a year-round insurance activity. Before renewal, the fleet must answer:

• Who is responsible for reviewing alerts and video?
• Which behaviors trigger coaching or retraining?
• How is the intervention documented?
• What happens when the behavior continues?
• Have driver scores or risky events improved?
• Has the footage helped resolve claims or establish liability?
• Can the fleet show that its process is consistent across drivers and locations?

First, confer with your broker. What information is most useful during underwriting?

The key is to not overwhelm the underwriter with every metric. Instead, identify the data that best shows how the fleet manages risk.

Claims Results Strengthen the Insurance Story

Camera footage can also help control the severity of individual claims, including cases in which the fleet driver bears some responsibility.

Raspberry recalled an incident in which an insured driver was backing out of a parking space. The driver looked in both directions and began moving at only 1 to 2 mph when a pickup entered the vehicle’s blind spot. The fleet vehicle tapped the pickup, leaving what Raspberry described as a tennis-ball-sized dent in its bumper.

The demand that followed was $500,000.

The fleet vehicle had multiple outward-facing cameras and a driver-facing camera. The footage showed the circumstances and severity of the contact. After the claimant’s attorney reviewed it, the matter came down to repairing $500 in vehicle damage.

“Without the camera footage, we probably would have paid more than $500,” Raspberry said. “The cameras help us mitigate claims even when the driver may be wrong. We know how to manage the claim and how much to put in reserves based on what occurred.”

In another case, video helped a driver successfully challenge a citation that could have affected the fleet’s compliance record:

The driver was stopped for speeding and also cited for failing to wear corrective lenses as required by his license. When the video was reviewed, it showed he wore his glasses throughout the trip. He removed them only after parking to retrieve paperwork for the officer.

The driver challenged the violation, and it was dismissed.

These examples can support the fleet’s renewal narrative. They show not only that cameras are installed, but that the footage is being used to establish facts and protect the company’s risk profile.

Data Requires Management and Accountability

A camera system may alert a driver in the cab when it detects speeding and unsafe behaviors. That immediate intervention has value, but it does not eliminate the need for management oversight.

Someone on the fleet team must still review events, identify patterns, coach drivers, and determine what happens when the same behavior continues.

“Managing the system is probably the most important thing you can do,” Kiris said. “We have to be reviewing the camera footage, reviewing the telematics data and coaching. Without those things, there’s pretty much no reason to have the telematics.”

Raspberry repeatedly emphasized management accountability. If a system shows that a driver has been trending toward excessive speed, hard acceleration or distracted driving, the fleet should not wait until a collision occurs to investigate the record.

“We don’t want to use these technologies from a reactive stance,” he said. “We want to use them proactively to retrain drivers and understand what they are seeing on the road.”

That distinction also matters in an insurance review. A report filled with recurring alerts does not demonstrate a strong safety program. The fleet must show what it did about them.

For smaller fleets without a dedicated safety manager, responsibility may fall to someone in operations or another management role. A broker, insurer, or outside risk partner may also help review data and identify trends. Regardless of who performs the work, someone must own the process.

Bring a Risk Record to Renewal

Fleets cannot control every factor affecting premiums. They can control how quickly they identify unsafe behavior, how consistently they respond, and how clearly they document the outcome.

An underwriter is unlikely to be persuaded by the number of cameras installed alone. Evidence that speeding declined, driver scores improved, coaching occurred, and claims were resolved using video presents a more meaningful case.

The camera captures the event. The fleet’s response determines whether that event becomes another data point or evidence that the organization can better manage risk.