Pinnacle Auto Insurance grew policies 58% and cut loss ratio 14 points with usage-based telematics pricing
A digital-first auto insurer was pricing every driver on age and ZIP code and losing the safe ones to competitors offering usage-based rates. A telematics-driven pricing platform turned driving behavior into a real-time rating factor — winning safe drivers, pricing risk accurately, and dropping the loss ratio from 71% to 57%.
This is an illustrative case study. Company names, identifying details, and testimonials have been changed to protect client confidentiality. The technical solution and target outcomes are representative of the work we do. We extend the same confidentiality to every client.
Where they started
Pinnacle had built a slick mobile-first quoting experience but was still rating drivers on the same age-and-ZIP factors the legacy carriers used. Safe drivers with low mileage and clean behavior were getting the same quotes as high-mileage night drivers — and they were leaving for competitors offering pay-how-you-drive rates. Pinnacle's loss ratio sat at 71%, well above the 65% target, because the rating plan couldn't distinguish good risk from bad. The actuarial team wanted to launch a UBI (usage-based insurance) product but had no telematics ingestion, no behavioral scoring engine, and no way to feed driving data back into pricing in real time.
What we built
We deployed our Insure Flow platform with a telematics ingestion pipeline that pulls driving data from a phone-based SDK and a partner OBD-II device, a behavioral scoring engine that computes a per-driver risk score from speed, braking, cornering, time-of-day, and mileage, and a real-time rating integration that adjusts renewal pricing based on the last 90 days of behavior. Policyholders see their driving score and projected renewal discount in the app, which doubled as a retention tool. The platform went live in 14 weeks.
Target outcomes
More from this project
We were quoting safe drivers the same as everyone else and watching them leave. The telematics product let us price the risk we were actually taking — and the safe drivers came back. The loss ratio drop wasn't a fluke; it's the natural result of finally knowing who's behind the wheel.
Representative testimonial — name and role changed to protect client identity.