Discovery Insure ‘tricks’ you into being a better driver

By giving clients immediate rewards for making behaviour changes that reduce their risk of an accident over time, Discovery Insure tricks South Africans into being better drivers. 

This has obvious advantages for the driver, and it benefits the insurer by reducing the risk of covering the client. 

A reduction in risk boosts Discovery Insure’s profitability while enabling it to pass on the benefit through lower premium increases and enhanced benefits. 

This creates a flywheel that Discovery Insure CEO Robert Attwell said ensures the model is sustainable and repeatable. 

Attwell was speaking at the release of new research by Discovery Insure, Johns Hopkins University, and Affective Mobility. 

This research resulted in a White Paper about how driving tips can be personalised to further improve driving behaviour. 

The research tracked the driving of 5,000 drivers across 1.7 million trips and 15 million kilometres of real-world driving. 

The study focused on five key behaviours: cellphone usage, harsh acceleration, harsh braking, cornering, and speeding. 

These behaviours underpin the Discovery Insure model used to assess clients’ driving performance. 

 “For 15 years, we have worked to show that road accident risk can be reduced through targeted behavioural interventions matched with incentives,” Attwell said. 

This has been done using Discovery’s shared-value model, where clients are rewarded for positive behaviour changes through rewards. 

The next step is personalisation, with Discovery Insure using the White Paper to inform the development of its Advanced Driving Instructor, which was launched in January 2026. 

This instructor is a personalised driving coach who studies individual behaviour to set goals for specific clients and delivers feedback. 

Attwell showed a demonstration of himself being told by the coach to work on his harsh braking and, using location tracking, being told that, in his suburb, he has a habit of braking hard. 

Discovery Insure said that since its launch, drivers using the instructor have brought their driving risk scores close to zero and have maintained these improvements over time. 

Tricking people with rewards

Attwell explained that all of this is underpinned by Discovery Insure’s rewards programme, which funds the entire model. 

“We have done a really good job at looking at the data and seeing what we can provide to see the behaviour change from our clients,” he said. 

“I think that is really important for us because that funds the entire programme. It’s all about whether we have the right incentives to actually drive the behaviour change.”

Without the right incentives, the model would fall apart because Discovery Insure would not be able to fund client rewards and maintain profitability. 

In the past financial year, the unit surpassed R1 billion in operating profit as the shared-value model kicked in and the flywheel began to turn. 

“Shared value is simple. It is that we give our clients a significant amount of rewards to manage their risk,” Attwell said. In the case of car insurance, it reduces the risk of an accident. 

“The clients get rewarded, and of course, the insurer benefits. We benefit from lower loss ratios and lower claims. But, ultimately, everyone benefits from fewer accidents and better driving.” 

Attwell explained that with driving, there is a major behavioural component that can be difficult to change, as it takes time to break habits and form new ones. 

A more difficult challenge is incentivising good long-term behaviour, as individuals increasingly want instant gratification.

They won’t wait three years for a reward for keeping a better following distance now. 

This is why Discovery Insure offers immediate rewards for positive behaviour changes in the form of Discovery Miles or Uber vouchers. 

For example, if an individual completes a “perfect trip”, they immediately receive up to 750 Discovery Miles in their Discovery banking app. 

This incentivises immediate behaviour change that reduces the risk of an accident over time. 

These are then coupled with weekly and monthly rewards to sustain that behaviour change. These rewards are also tangible, so the value of improved driving is evident. 

This can be in the form of increased rewards when filling up with fuel or even a new set of tyres, which makes the vehicle safer to drive.