New trends in Auto Insurance Policies, San Francisco

About the Author:

Shakeel Mustafa resides and works in San Francisco. His field of work is auto insurance in which he has gained rich experience. He also commands good hand over auto insurance policy validations and coverages. 

This article has been penned down by in order to forecast the future trends in the auto insurance policies, especially in San Francisco, California where he is currently residing. His potential can be grasped by his experience at work for the major Insurance Companies including State Farm Insurance and GEICO, based in San Francisco. 

Recent Trends in Boost of Costs for San Francisco Auto Insurance Drivers

One can easily avail car facility and online food order with just a few clicks on a smartphone. What about insurance demand? Would this be next? 

In the insurance sector, Policyholders pay premiums to get coverage. This is done for a period of six months or a year. However, for this generation which is getting completely dependent on technical know-how to fulfill its needs, several startups initiating development of apps have led people to customize coverage in order to meet their needs. Talking about one industry mammoth, Northbrook-based Allstate, is collaborating with a better way of charging for coverage in the near future.

Wayne Slavin, co-founder of Sure  said “We’re in the era where we no longer need to buy an entire music album but instead we can purchase just one song, so why can't we just buy the types of coverage we want as consumers?" .The products of Sure are said to include "episodic" insurance around travel through its Smartphone app.

Matthew Wong, senior research analyst for venture capital data gatherer CB Insights, calls it "just-in-time coverage" and the "unbundling" of policy terms and coverages.

There is a silver lining behind every cloud. The same holds true for this sector as well. Thanks to Smartphones and demographic transformation, the sector is witnessing an upward trend. Even the Home ownership rates have gone down.

In the words of Wong," Startups are seeing new opportunities to create brands that adjust to new lifestyle and locational trends, including those of millennials. 

“Funding for insurance-technology startups hit $2.65 billion in 2015, up from $740 million in 2014 and $223 million in 2013,” Wong said previously this year at the OnRamp Insurance Conference held in Chicago.

Let us have a glance at what some companies are doing with on-demand or more customized insurance:

Trov:

A company based in San Francisco has developed a “smart insurance" app which enables users to protect all the things you want from your cell phone and whenever you want without resorting to an insurance agent or a long-term contract.

Basically what happens is that users create an online inventory of anything valuable in their phone and afterwards swipe on all those items of interest that need protection. At the end, they choose a price and deductible that is most appropriate for them. The company is there working in Australia but now is coming to the United Kingdom in the second half of the ongoing year. Then it plans to be available in the United States in the year 2017.All claims can be submitted through text messages.

Some illustrations include: Getting a Mac Book Pro or an iPhone 6 insured against loss or an accidental damage incurred when leaving home.

Taking about the fund raising, Trov recently raised $25.5 million from investors, making a sum of $39 million. Its backers include Connecticut-based Oak HC/FT, whose holdings are backed by Insureon, Maestro Health and Village MD, all situated in Chicago.

Trov performs all its working through mobile apps, collecting both bills and premiums within the app. A part of the proceeds realized from the deal is shared with its insurance underwriting partner. This company is responsible for paying out any claims. That's AXA in the United Kingdom. According to Slavin, airlines' claims procedures have quite a lot of exclusions and require more documentation and time to process.

“If we're not able to retrieve the bags for the customer within 96 hours, we provide them a no-questions-asked payment of $1,000 or $2,000 per bag, depending on the level of coverage, regardless of the contents of the bags," he said. Nor does Sure ask for receipts for the contents of the luggage, he continued. "If the bags are ever returned, the customer can keep both the payment and their baggage."

Sure's baggage coverage starts at $5.