Hellas Direct and Cambridge Mobile Telematics Expand Successful Smartphone Telematics Program to All Drivers in Greece

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, March 21, 2017 (Newswire.com) - Hellas Direct, one of the fastest growing car insurance companies in Greece, and Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), a leading global telematics technology and service provider, announced the expansion of their innovative smartphone telematics program to a larger European market. The Hellas Direct app is now available to all drivers in Greece, designed to reward customers with incentives and discounts for safe driving. 

In July 2016, Hellas Direct launched a first-of-its-kind driving challenge in Greece, which was open to existing WIND customers only. The smartphone-based telematics program was hugely successful with thousands of users participating during the four-week promotion. With this program, Hellas Direct rewarded drivers for making good decisions behind the wheel. The Hellas Direct app captured behaviors such as speeding, acceleration, hard turning, harsh braking, and phone distraction while driving. As a result, the top 50% of users reduced phone distraction by 35% and hard braking events by 15%, proving this platform as a cost-effective way to significantly improve driving behaviors and engage new and existing customers. 

“Nothing would make Hellas Direct happier than a decrease in road accidents. A big part of this is making drivers aware of what constitutes dangerous driving behavior. The app is the best way for us to achieve this while rewarding our clients at the same time,” said Michalis Antoniou, head of Product and Analytics at Hellas Direct.

Due to the success of the July launch, Hellas Direct and CMT are expanding their program to a larger audience in Greece. The Hellas Direct app runs in the background, with minimal battery consumption, collecting sensor data to measure driving behavior. At the end of each trip, users are scored and can view any unsafe behaviors along their route, such as phone distraction and excessive speeding. Interactive leaderboards and achievements in the app show users their ranking among other drivers in Greece, including friends. In addition, Hellas Direct offers a reward system for safe driving, allowing users to redeem tickets for rewards. Behavior awareness combined with rewards has proven successful with other CMT partner programs across the world.

“By giving drivers feedback about their behaviors coupled with incentives, people improve their driving, and this improvement becomes a long-term habit,” said Sam Madden, Chief Scientist at Cambridge Mobile Telematics. “People actually learn to drive better. With similar programs, we’ve found that even after 200 days of usage, the average user still shows a reduction of more than 25% in phone use and hard braking.”

About Hellas Direct
Since 2012, Hellas Direct has been one of the fastest growing car insurance companies in Greece, leading the way with high service standards, state of the art innovation, and great products and prices. Hellas Direct is changing the way car insurance companies service their clients believing the Greek consumer deserves a better customer experience and fairer insurance.  Hellas Direct specializes in car insurance, selling products directly via the web and over the phone.  For more information, please visit hellasdirect.gr.

About Cambridge Mobile Telematics
Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) makes roads and drivers safer around the world. Founded in 2010 by two MIT professors and experienced entrepreneurs, CMT pioneered telematics for behavior-based insurance (BBI) and deployed the first solution to provide both traditional vehicle-centric UBI and BBI. With over 20 customers in 14 countries, CMT has a proven record of changing driver behavior: an average reduction of 35% in phone distraction, 20% in hard braking, and 20% in at-risk speeding all within less than 30 days of using the program. For more information, please visit cmtelematics.com and follow on Twitter @cmtelematics.

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Source: Cambridge Mobile Telematics