[Exclusive] "Promised Premium Discounts"... Three Out of Four Who Agreed to Share Driving Data Received No Discount

Nine Non-life Insurers Obtained 14.52 Million Driving Data Consents from January to August, but Only 3.88 Million Signed Up

10.64 Million Provided Data Without Receiving Discounts

Stronger Consumer Protections Needed for "Safe Driving" Criteria and Handling of Non-enrollee Data

Although many customers agreed to provide their driving information to insurers in hopes of receiving discounted insurance premiums, only one in four actually ended up signing up for the discount riders. This is because, even with consent to provide driving data, drivers must also fulfill additional requirements, such as achieving a certain safe driving score or meeting minimum mileage thresholds. There are calls for regulatory improvements to ensure that information consent genuinely results in discounts, especially at some insurance companies where the eligibility criteria for discount riders are particularly strict.

On October 5, according to a report compiled by the office of Assemblywoman Hyunjung Kim from the Democratic Party of Korea, based on data provided by the Financial Supervisory Service, there were a total of 14.52 million consents obtained by nine non-life insurance companies for UBI (Usage-Based Insurance) rider enrollments between January and August of this year.

However, only 3.88 million of these consents resulted in actual enrollment in UBI riders, accounting for just 26.7%. The remaining 10.64 million cases involved drivers who agreed to share their driving data but did not ultimately enroll in the riders. In other words, three out of four drivers who consented to provide information did not receive any premium discount benefits.

Assemblywoman Hyunjung Kim stated, "Of every four drivers who agreed to provide driving information after seeing promotional offers for discounted premiums, three ended up merely handing over their personal driving data without receiving any discount." She added, "It is important to scrutinize whether insurers are prioritizing information collection without sufficiently informing customers about eligibility criteria and the possibility of not qualifying for discounts." She continued, "The financial authorities should closely examine the ratio of consents to actual enrollments, strengthen prior notification about the rider qualifications, and establish clear principles for deleting personal information of non-enrollees to improve the system."

UBI riders are insurance products through which insurers collect data on the driver, such as driving distance and habits, to assess safe driving and offer discounts on premiums based on this assessment. While the specifics differ by insurer, discounts are generally triggered when drivers meet established criteria for speeding and mileage, among others.

The main issue is the persistent gap between consent for data provision and actual enrollment in UBI riders. This gap is not unique to this year. Data from four non-life insurers, covering 2023 through 2025, show that the number of cases where drivers consented to data provision but did not enroll in the discount rider has grown, from 2.78 million cases in 2023 to 4.88 million in 2024 and 5.84 million in 2025.

There were also significant differences in the conversion rates between consent and actual enrollment depending on the insurer. For example, in the connected car mileage riders, the gap was especially stark: Insurer I achieved a conversion rate of 91.0%, while Insurer E had a rate of 59.8%. In contrast, Insurer B saw just 2.5%, and Insurer D only 1.4%. The difference between Insurer I and Insurer D was about 65 times.

Of particular note, Insurer D admitted that for more than one year and four months after introducing the rider, it managed consents in a way that did not separately distinguish which customers were consenting specifically for the rider, instead lumping all consents under a single blanket consent for enrollment planning. This means it was difficult to determine whether consumers consented specifically to the safe driving rider or more generally to information sharing during the auto insurance sign-up process.

Insurer E stated that it did not obtain separate consent for the rider, but rather collected information through an integrated consent process covering a wide range of connected car or connected safe driving services offered in association with car manufacturers. As a result, the insurer broadly secured driving information not only in the process of producing insurance quotes but also when customers used other connected car services, regardless of actual rider enrollment status.

One major reason for the widening gap between consent and actual number of enrollees is the high threshold for eligibility at some insurers. Some companies require a safe driving score of 80 points or higher in order to qualify for the discount rider. But it is argued that in congested and complex city centers like Seoul, frequent sudden stops and rapid acceleration are nearly unavoidable, resulting in lower driving scores for many.

Within the industry, there are moves underway to ease qualifying thresholds as part of regulatory and procedural reforms. For example, Insurer E, which reported a particularly low enrollment rate compared to its peers, plans to relax its eligibility requirements by lowering the required safe driving score.

On the other hand, insurance companies argue that, by nature, the safe driving discount rider cannot have its qualification criteria and discount rates lowered indiscriminately.

A representative from a domestic insurer noted, "The safe driving discount rider is not a product that grants premium discounts to all customers uniformly; rather, it assesses driving scores and other factors to selectively offer greater discounts to lower-risk clients. Given the loss ratio in auto insurance and current premium levels, it is not feasible to simply lower the criteria or increase the discount rate across the board."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.