Telematics is common across commercial fleets, but it rarely reaches insurance workflows:
70% of fleet managers don’t share data with insurers, most were never asked
At first glance, it looks like a lack of interest on both sides, but it’s not.
Telematics exists across the ecosystem, it just hasn't made it into the process, yet.
The problem
Telematics is often treated as an attachment – another dataset with its own parameters, logic, and interface. It lives in separate dashboards, external portals, and fleet management tools, not in underwriting workflows, pricing decisions, or placement processes.
Underwriters often receive it after they make key decisions, as outputs they can't map to rating factors, or in third-party tools. And the way many programs are structured today brokers may not receive access to data at all.
The consequence
Until telematics becomes part of the transaction itself, it remains optional, and optional things don’t drive value and decisions.
Insurers receive data late and can't apply it to rating and pricing decisions, so loss ratios don't improve.
Fleets that invest in safety programs still get priced on portfolio averages. The connection between how they actually operate and what they actually pay is missing.
Brokers can’t translate it into better placement or advisory and, thus, do not drive adoption.
The incentive for any party to change behavior never materializes. So the cycle repeats.
What embedding actually requires
For telematics to matter, it has to become part of how insurance decisions are made. In practice, it comes down to three things:
Translation into insurance exposure. Telematics was built for fleet operations, not underwriting. To be usable, operational signals need to be translated into structured, validated exposure that fits directly into insurance workflows without additional interpretation.
Availability at the moment of decision. Data has to be present when decisions are made. Whether at pre-bind, renewal, or portfolio monitoring, telematics only creates value if it can influence an outcome. If it arrives too late, it becomes context, not input.
Native integration into the workflow. Telematics cannot live in a separate portal or require a parallel process. If someone has to leave their core system, open another tool, and interpret new parameters, it won’t be used. It has to appear as part of the existing operating environment where decisions happen.
One shared view of risk
Beyond these three, one condition underpins everything:
All participants – fleets, brokers, carriers, and their internal teams – need to operate from the same reconciled dataset. Without that, telematics introduces divergence instead of clarity.
Let’s take the broker’s workflow as an example:
The broker just forwards a telematics onboarding link
The fleet shares data directly with the carrier, and the broker is left outside
When the telematics submission produces a different answer than the original application, the broker is left explaining the discrepancies.
The process adds friction without adding value. There is no advisory role, no differentiated placement outcome, and more operational complexity than before.
The brokers rationally don’t push enrollment.
Where Draivn fits
Draivn makes telematics a part of the insurance transaction:
Converts raw data into validated, structured risk exposure profiles that underwriting can use directly, without additional interpretation or rework.
Brings telematics into workflows in a format that fits existing processes, so underwriters and brokers can act on it without changing how they work.
Helps all parties – insurers, brokers, fleets – operate from a single, reconciled view of risk, eliminating discrepancies between application data and telematics-derived insights.
Beyond all this, Draivn structures telematics sharing as a governed process with:
Purpose-specific consent – data is shared for clearly defined insurance use cases
Lifecycle-managed access – permissions are time-bound and evolve with the transaction
Auditable controls – every access and use is traceable
This is fundamentally different from static API credentials granted once and left unmanaged. And most importantly, these rules are enforced operationally, not just contractually.
What changes when it’s embedded
When telematics is genuinely part of the process, the dynamic shifts for everyone:
Underwriters can compare the declared and observed exposure before binding. That way, pricing will reflect actual risk, and loss ratios will start to improve.
Fleets that invest in safety see it reflected in their pricing and terms. The link between performance and price becomes visible.
Brokers gain a concrete lever to negotiate placements, and advisory becomes possible when they have access to that data.
We strongly believe that the industry doesn’t need more telematics data. It needs telematics to be properly translated and show up at the exact moment decisions are made.
