Sara Assicurazioni: competitive vehicle insurance pricing using satellite navigation

The company

Sara Assicurazioni is a medium-sized Italian insurance company, with about 400 agencies and a staff of 660 people on the national territory. Created over 60 years ago, the company covers a wide range of insurance needs, including the protection of family, properties and life standards.

 The challenge

Italians are changing the way they are using cars: they now do less kilometres (around 12 000 per year) and when possible, they take public transport, out of environmental concerns, but also to save money. Sara considered new technologies to offer innovative insurance policies adapted to the individual needs of such drivers who made less use of their cars.

 The satellite solution

Since 2005, Sara Assicurazioni created an insurance policy, SaraFree, which allows customers to pay according to the number of kilometres run with their vehicle. It is the first pay-as-you-go insurance policy for vehicles in Italy. A GPS device is provided to the subscribing customer: it automatically records the number of kilometres run and sends the information to a central unit. The insurance company adapts the monthly price of the policy accordingly. Furthermore, the GPS device enables the location and recovery of the vehicle in case of theft. Finally, the device can also contain an emergency button allowing the customer to send a geo-localised distress call in case of emergency.

 The result

Customers benefit from the same level of insurance coverage while saving up to 55% on the price of a traditional insurance policy. Moreover, the GPS application enables to reconstruct the dynamic of an accident, to assess responsibilities objectively, and to contest unjust fines by proving the position and speed of the vehicle at any given time.

SaraFree raised a considerable interest among customers and enabled the insurance company to distinguish itself from competitors by offering an innovative solution adapted to the real needs of customers.

 “SaraFree relies entirely to a GPS device that allows to calculate the due policy according to the number of kilometres run and enables the recovery of the vehicle in case of theft.” Germana Andriani, Sara Assicurazioni.