TL;DR
- First policy of its kind in the Italian market, signifying the company’s initial expansion into another territory.
- By Miles is already the largest pay-by-mile car insurance provider in Europe, despite currently only being available in the UK.
- Last year 32 million cars were insured in Italy, with 27% already understood to be on usage-based policies.
- Maurizio Ballabio and Arkadiusz Bandosz join to help the expansion.
Italy’s first pay-by-mile insurance
By Miles can today announce the launch of Italy’s first pay-by-mile insurance policy that works in real-time – the company’s first entry into a market outside of the UK.
Since launching in the UK in 2018, By Miles has established itself as the largest pay-by-mile car insurance provider in Europe, despite only selling policies in one country. Italian drivers are set to be able to buy policies from Spring 2022.
Last year, around 32 million cars were insured in Italy, and 27% of new policies are understood to have some usage-based insurance (UBI) capability. By Miles has managed to corner the UBI market in the UK, where a comparatively lower 5.7% of policies sold are usage-based.
Maurizio Ballabio and Arkadiusz Bandosz join to help with the expansion – both vastly experienced insurance leaders based in Italy. Maurizio joins after 18 years at Europ Assistance (part of Generali Group) where he held numerous senior positions, including Director of Automotive Market Insurance. Arkadiusz is a member of the Italian Insurtech Association and spent a number of years on the board of Helvetia Insurance Italy.
Growth
By Miles has insured over 250 million miles for its UK members and has experienced exponential growth in terms of both sales and personnel. The scaleup insurtech now boasts over 90 employees, including a number of recent hires in key c-suite areas such as Chief People Officer, Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Product and Technology Officer.
The company’s continued growth has led to it raising over £28 million in funds from investors including Commerzventures, Octopus Ventures, JamJar Investments, 14W, InMotion Ventures and Insurtech Gateway.
Scale
Following a successful launch in Italy, the ambition is to expand into more EU territories by the end of 2023. By Miles is powering this expansion using its highly scalable UBI platform, which enables By Miles, as well as any other third parties, to launch new UBI products globally in under twelve weeks.
Callum Rimmer, co-founder at By Miles, said: “Despite the fact that, until now, we’re not yet available outside the UK, we’re already the biggest pay-as-you-drive insurance provider in Europe. The opportunity is huge as drivers, many of whom felt the impact of reduced vehicle usage during the pandemic, now want more flexible and fairer pricing as a result. We are ideally positioned to meet this pent-up demand.
“The similarities in market size, telematics acceptance and demographics mean that launching in Italy makes sense. But it is just the start of an exciting period of expansion for By Miles. Our ambition is to become a global authority when it comes to offering pay-as-you-drive insurance products. There is a vast market in Europe ready to be unlocked.”
James Blackham, co-founder and chief executive at By Miles, said: “We’ve seen from the UK that there is a real demand from drivers for pay-as-you-drive insurance products. Average annual mileage has been on the decline for over a decade in both the UK and Italy, and shows no sign of reversing soon. After converting some of our measurements from miles to kilometres, we’re excited to replicate the success of our UK playbook in another territory.”
Maurizio Ballabio, helping with the expansion in Italy, said: “We are excited to be able to bring this product to drivers of Italy. As a nation we’re very open to the idea of using our driving data to access fairer pricing – and that’s exactly what we’ll be able to offer. Drivers up and down the country have been looking for a car insurance product that reflects their reduced car usage, and I have no doubt that this will be a success from the outset.”
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