How the benefits of telematics can help cut insurance costs

If you’ve experienced sticker shock when looking at your fleet insurance cost lately, you aren’t alone. Commercial fleet insurance premiums have become one of the fastest-growing expenses for businesses. Average premiums for auto insurance have been increasing by double digits annually and the cost, as well as how to lower insurance premiums, continues to be a top concern for fleets.

The numbers for trucking are even more stark. In 2024, truck insurance premiums set a new record high and according to the latest data from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), insurance costs per mile have continued to climb, with carriers reporting an average 5.8% increase in just the first quarter of 2025.¹ Preliminary data for the first half of 2025 shows that renewal rates are jumping by nearly 10%.¹ For a small fleet, these "pennies" per mile add up to thousands of dollars in lost profit every year.

Rising costs fleet vehicle insurance are driven by a "perfect storm" of factors:

• Repair costs: Modern vans and trucks are safer, but they are also more expensive to fix. A simple fender bender now involves sensors and cameras that can double the cost of a repair.
• Social inflation: This is the rising cost of legal claims. Jury awards and settlements are getting larger, even for minor incidents. In fact, lawsuit abuse reform has risen to become the number two concern for the trucking industry overall in 2025.²
• Safety history: Insurance companies now look closer than ever at your fleet's safety data. One or two bad drivers can spike the rates for your entire company.

While rising premiums and legal liability pose a major threat to your bottom line, they aren’t inevitable. Fleets that really want to keep costs low, especially their fleet vehicle insurance, are focused on becoming a “low-risk” fleet.

The benefits of telematics on insurance

Becoming a “low-risk” fleet that compels carriers to offer lower fleet insurance costs isn't about luck; it’s about providing verifiable proof of safety across all your coverage areas. Whether you have a commercial policy for individual units or a fleet policy that covers your entire asset pool, insurers evaluate your premium based on several key protections:

• Liability: Coverage for bodily injury or property damage your drivers cause to others.
• Physical damage: An umbrella for collision (accidents with other objects) and comprehensive (non-collision events like fire, theft, or vandalism).
• Uninsured motorist: Protection that kicks in if your vehicle is hit by a driver who lacks adequate insurance to cover the damage.

Achieving a lower-risk profile in these categories is one of the primary benefits of telematics. With GPS fleet tracking, dashcams and other features available through telematics, your safety efforts turn into verifiable facts backed by unbiased data, allowing you to show insurers your actual, lower-risk reality, rather than industry-wide averages.

How to lower your insurance premiums with data

Many insurance companies now provide insurance discounts for GPS tracking and dashcams. There are several specific ways you can seek these telematics insurance discounts for your fleet.

• Standard telematics insurance discounts: Many providers offer an immediate "hardware discount" simply for proving you have a system installed. Because these telematics data and dashcams are known to reduce accidents and assist in theft recovery, insurers often provide a baseline price reduction the moment you activate your solution.
• Usage-based insurance (UBI): Some insurers offer programs that track exactly how many miles you drive and how safely your team handles the vehicles. Instead of paying a flat, high rate based on industry averages, your premiums are adjusted based on your actual, proven risk level. This allows you to pay for the "safe fleet" you actually run.
• Verizon Connect Marketplace: You don’t have to hunt for these telematics insurance discounts on your own. Searching insurance in the marketplace lets you browse partners that integrate directly with Verizon Connect. This makes it easy to see if your current provider offers a "preferred" discount and find partners that specifically reward professional operations with upfront discounts of up to 20%.

Fleets report saving money on fleet vehicle insurance — but that’s not all. See how telematics reduces costs in other areas like fuel, labor, maintenance and accident costs in our annual report.

Defending your drivers with AI video

In the past, an accident often came down to "he said, she said"— and the commercial driver was often blamed. Today, AI-powered dashcams act as an unbiased witness that can save you from a massive legal settlement by providing objective visual context and proof. They also help monitor driver behavior and provide support for better coaching. These essential benefits of telematics and video can help lower fleet insurance costs.

• Exonerating drivers in false claims: Integrated dashcams use AI to identify exactly what happened in the moments leading up to an impact. Forward-facing cameras capture on-the-road risks, such as when a car purposely "brake checks" a truck or drifts into its lane. This footage provides the irrefutable evidence needed to shut down fraudulent claims before they reach a courtroom. For example, B.A.M. Trucking used this technology to deflect three separate lawsuits from a single claimant, eventually reducing their annual insurance premium by $200,000.
• Speeds up the claims process: Beyond proving fault, telematics streamlines the claims process by providing insurers with immediate, accurate data. This helps resolve claims faster by providing clear evidence of the other driver’s actions, even if they leave the scene. Proving exactly what, where and when happened reduces the overall “claim lifecycle,” which saves the insurer money. One of the biggest benefits of telematics for Fine Airport Parking is how much faster claims are handled for its shuttles. In Houston, a fender-bender incident insurance claim was overturned within 24 hours because dashcam video showed the other driver at fault.
• Multi-perspective visibility: Dashcams capture one essential view, but the ability to see around the entire vehicle adds an extra layer of protection. By adding side-view and rear-facing Extended View Cameras, managers get a 360-degree view of incidents. This is crucial for defending against "side-swipe" claims or backing accidents, which are among the most common and costly fleet vehicle insurance triggers. With a video monitor installed in the cab, your driver gets a new level of visibility, so they can see all around the vehicle before backing up or moving into traffic — preventing accidents from happening in the first place.
• Building a culture of safety: Modern AI-powered dashcams enhance safety cultures by distinguishing between routine road bumps and high-risk events. Advanced AI eliminates the need for manual video review by distilling footage into categorized events with smart tags. NexTier Infrastructure Solutions leverages these insights to manage their fleet safety program more efficiently, monitoring drivers without sifting through extensive footage. The system also utilizes real-time, in-cab audible alerts to notify drivers of distraction or drowsiness. Together, these AI-driven steps and dashcams have successfully reduced the company’s fleet vehicle insurance costs.

Managing risk through compliance and prevention

Insurance companies reward fleets that stay organized and proactive. Fleet management technology allows you to automate the reporting and preventive measures that prove you are a responsible operator.

• Simplifying compliance: Most insurance companies provide standard discounts for proof of compliance with federal and state mandates. Telematics makes it easy to track DOT requirements, including Hours-of-Service (HOS), ELD, and Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIR), collating everything into easy-to-read reports. This telematics data can be used during insurance renewals to prove your fleet is operating within legal safety limits. The ease of reporting with telematics can reduce the risk of costly fines.
• Staying ahead of maintenance: Harsh driving doesn't just cause accidents; it causes mechanical wear that leads to breakdowns. For example, hard braking wears out tires and brake pads prematurely, making the vehicle less effective in an emergency. Using engine diagnostics to stay on top of preventative maintenance shows insurers you aren't cutting corners on equipment safety, which helps maintain your status as a "low-risk" fleet.
• Monitoring unauthorized use and theft: Theft is an expensive insurance claim that can spike your rates for years. Telematics provides 24/7 visibility into your high-value assets. You can draw a "geofence" around a job site and receive a near real-time alert if a vehicle moves outside of working hours. If a truck is stolen, GPS tracking acts as a recovery device. It happens often: Diamond Landscapes, which used Verizon Connect to help law enforcement locate and recover $500,000 worth of stolen trucks and equipment, successfully avoiding a massive total-loss insurance claim.

Knowing how to lower insurance premiums is a dual effort: you need to be proactive about safety and reactive with your financial defense. When you weigh the costs of rising premiums against the benefits of telematics, the choice becomes clear. By building a mountain of evidence that proves your fleet is a lower risk, you can protect your operating margins and keep your business moving forward.

Want to see how Verizon Connect can help your company supplement safety efforts and potentially lower fleet insurance costs? Click here to schedule a live demo.

Sources

¹ https://truckingresearch.org/about-atri/atri-research/operational-costs-of-trucking/

² https://truckingresearch.org/2025/10/for-the-third-year-in-a-row-the-economy-is-the-trucking-industrys-top-concern/