Maguire International

Maguire International renews commitment to DriveCam after achieving 30 percent reduction in insurance premiums and a 40 percent reduction in insurance claims within eight months of implementing DriveCam's Driver Risk Management Program.

Situation

Maguire International Transport Ltd., based in Ballinode in County Monaghan (Ireland), specialises in national and international transport for the past 20 years. The company focuses on the distribution of both refrigerated and dry freight goods throughout Ireland and Europe. The company operates a fleet of over 50 trucks and in excess of 200 trailers.

Like most haulage companies, Maguire was seeing continual increases in its insurance premiums. They knew that their insurance provider, Hibernian General Insurance Ltd, was keen on improving driver safety and reducing risky driving.

Hibernian, as part of its commitment to retain and reward clients who demonstrate high levels of risk management and control in their fleets, had researched the market for an innovative and robust solution that provided additional benefits and lowered costs while also giving customers the assurance of the most trusted insurance brand in the market. That research led them to partner with DriveCam.

In light of the Irish Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, which provides the basic legal framework for preventing accidents and ill health at work, Hibernian wanted its customers to understand that health and safety legislation now covered employees whose place of work is a vehicle. Because of this, employers must now identify, evaluate, avoid and control the risks drivers face while driving. If they fail to meet any of the legal requirements, they could be used against the employer in a compensation claim. The 2005 Act represents a modernisation of occupational health and safety laws as it sets the scene for achieving further improvements in the national record on safety and health over the next few years. Its primary focus is on the prevention of workplace accidents, illnesses and dangerous occurrences and it provides also for significantly increased fines and penalties aimed at deterring the minority who continue to flout safety and health laws.

As employers' duties to employees grow and as road safety rapidly becomes an issue of corporate social responsibility, Hibernian wanted to be sure its clients were aware of their obligations. As Hibernian states in its Roadsense Guide, "In a court of law, ignorance does not mean innocence." The Guide continues, "To raise your company's safety stand successfully, you must also change your company's behaviour and attitude towards risk. In other words, you must promote and develop a 'culture' of road safety."

Solution

In an effort to reduce the number of incidents and as a byproduct, Maguire's insurance premium, Hibernian presented DriveCam as a solution to reduce both. Hibernian spent time educating Maguire about DriveCam's Driver Risk Management Program and promised a 20 percent reduction in premiums if it was implemented successfully over the first year.

A senior management representative at Maguire, John Nally, describes "Ireland as an expensive country for insurance." To that fact, the road haulage industry experienced an average 150 percent increase in insurance costs over a four-year period from 1999 to 2003 with insurance costs representing nearly 12 percent of the total cost of operating a road haulage business. "In addition, Ireland's road network is behind Europe and the driving practices are not as good. In fact, there's a higher rate of accidents in Ireland and a higher mortality rate compared to Europe," stated Nally. According to the Road Safety Country Profile (October 2005), Ireland contributed to the world's road traffic mortality rate through 379 people killed and 7,579 people injured in 5,403 accidents in 2004. Delving further, it's interesting to learn that 81 percent of these accidents are due to driver error. Adding to this is the fact that the number of cars increased by 41 percent to 2.3 million since 1998 — with negligible expansion of the road network.

Because of these facts, and their increasing insurance premiums, Maguire began to consider their drivers' behaviour and how they might improve it. Encouraged by a promised rate reduction from Hibernian if Maguire adopted DriveCam's Driver Risk Management Program, Maguire decided to put the program to the test.

Impact

Maguire International implemented the DriveCam solution in April 2007 and quickly began to see a reduction in serious incidents. Thinking this might be an anomaly, Nally began to carefully track the statistics. He was thrilled to find that the reduction in serious incidents tracked to a 40 percent decrease during the first 10 months of implementation (the time of this interview). In addition, the number of accidents necessitating significant repair dropped by 60 percent — from 20 to eight in the first 10 months.

"I'm impressed with how quickly we began to see a reduction in the number of serious incidents and the number of accidents resulting in significant repair," stated Niall Maguire, managing director. "Even more impressive is the number of fraudulent claims that have been thwarted now that we have DriveCam. In one case, we used the audio and video recording from the DriveCam Event Recorder to prove that our driver was not negligent in his driving, nor was he responsible for the accident. By having the video available, we were able to understand what actually occurred. In this case alone, DriveCam saved us € 6,500."

Utilizing the DriveCam solution goes to the heart of Maguire's business ethics. It is a quality company — from its modern fleet of vehicles to the drivers it hires. Because of this, Maguire puts a lot of emphasis on ensuring that its drivers maintain the Maguire name and represent it well.

Since implementing the solution, the majority of Maguire's drivers now sees the benefit and is in favour of it. "They find it exonerates them if they're involved in an accident," stated Nally, "and it proves their innocence."

Maguire looks forward to quantifying the savings they are beginning to see in fuel and maintenance costs. In the meantime, they renewed their DriveCam subscription, continue to add vehicles to the program as they become available and reduce their insurance premiums as their drivers' behaviour continues to improve. "The DriveCam system requires continual monitoring but we feel it is worth the investment."

Brian Dooley, commercial motor product manager with Hibernian comments, "Fleet owners regularly complain that they have little control over their insurance costs. Our partnership with DriveCam has allowed us to offer fleet customers a unique product and service comprising insurance and a genuinely effective fleet management program giving customers more control and certainty over their insurance, fuel and maintenance costs. Sharing the benefits of lower claims cost by rewarding the customer with innovative deals shows there is fresh thinking in fleet insurance for customers who, like Maguire International, are seriously interested in managing risk. The strong take-up levels of the Hibernian DriveCam product are proof that we are answering the demand for something new."