Is your tracker a Tracker?

As the largest vehicle tracking company in South Africa, Tracker has fitted its technology to approximately 700 000 vehicles. The company estimates a market share equal to 7% of the entire South African car park, and some 14% of the insured vehicle popula

Technology is rewriting the way short-term insurers “price” the motor risk pool. Although tracking technology has been around for some time it’s only recently that “pay as you drive” and similar innovative solutions have been brought to market. Today’s tracking devices assist with much more than just vehicle recovery. They provide truck loads of “driver behaviour” data for insurers and a range of safety and convenience value-add services to the customer.

Monitoring driver behaviour

“Tracker has moved with the times and we currently use some of the most sophisticated technologies available anywhere in the world,” says Michael Niewoudt, Sales Director at Tracker. Telematics and driver behaviour insurance is relatively new in the world – and in South Africa. And despite the myriad solutions on offer the final consumer-trusted model will probably only be part of our lives in the next two to three years. Insurance companies will lead this development by educating the consumer of the benefits linked to modern vehicle tracking solutions.

Some of the value-add products and services include tax log books, smart phone locations, border notifications and high-risk area alerts. The ongoing use of tracking devices is essential to keep motor vehicle crime in check. Although the authorities have made serious inroads in certain categories of vehicle theft, we still suffer more than 60 000 incidents of vehicle theft and hi-jacking in South Africa each year. “Consumers see value in the tracking-enabled safety products we offer, but demand for the stolen vehicle recovery feature is typically driven more as an insurance requirement,” Niewoudt says.

More than just a vehicle tracker

Simply put – a successful tracking company cannot offer a “vehicle tracking only” service. Tracker started off as a company that was all about tracking, but has since branched out to offer a wider mix of products. Today, the group provides one-stop vehicle tracking and mobility services to intermediaries and corporate companies alike, with a range of products and services to suit every client’s need. Niewoudt explains: “Our roots are in stolen vehicle recovery, but our core business has evolved to connecting vehicles to deliver services that help our customers and partners proactively and intelligently manage the opportunities and risks associated with vehicle usage.”

These services are focused around optimising safety and security, maximising savings and creating awareness around how driving behaviour can impact the cost of having a vehicle on the road. Some of the initiatives that support this strategy are:

• Behavioural insurance telematics. Tracker is currently the leading provider of behavioural insurance information to the insurance industry. We believe that behavioural driving awareness products will have a significant positive impact on road safety as they gain in popularity.

• High-definition traffic information. Tracker, in partnership with TomTom and TrafficNet, provides South African motorists with the richest source of traffic information possible. The quality of this traffic service is rated as among the best in the world. It is estimated that motorists that make use of traffic enabled navigation systems are not only safer drivers but also save up to 10% on fuel costs.

• Ecodrive. Tracker will soon be launching this product to help motorists understand the impact of their driving behaviour on the environment. The innovative solution will illustrate emission outputs and facilitates the planting of a tree to offset a driver’s carbon footprint.

Staying ahead of the pack

The tracking market is fiercely competitive and companies in this space need to ensure they always remain one step ahead. The trick is to continually search for opportunities to add value to customers and partners. Tracker achieves this by partnering best of class businesses, employing talented people and striving to continually improve customer service and product and service quality. “The group’s customers and partners ultimately decide whether or not we are on top of our game and we are acutely aware of this,” comments Niewoudt.

The insurance broker remains an important stakeholder in the vehicle tracking market. Brokers and brokerages – small or large – play a vital role in Tracker’s success and have done so for many years. Tracker has a dedicated team of consultants around the country servicing the broker network and values the relationships they’ve built up over many years. The company is putting in the hard miles to establish new broker contacts without neglecting their existing ones.

“We work closely together with our insurance company partners and mirror their broker network to make sure we are servicing more established brokers and connecting with new companies as they emerge,” says Niewoudt.

The only name in vehicle tracking

One of the key selling points to brokers is to offer a market-leading product. There’s only one name that should spring to mind when you tell your client which tracker to install. The Tracker brand – with its long-standing reputation, national footprint and impressive recovery ratio – has made the company a trusted name within the insurance industry. “We believe by achieving more arrests and recoveries, by maintaining the largest recovery network, and utilising world-leading technologies, we remain in a league above our competition,” concludes Niewoudt.