Insurance

In 2020, natural disasters, excluding COVID-19, caused a total of $76 billion in insured losses, as opposed to the $7 billion in man-made insured losses. Companies must prepare to meet the demands of an increased customer base, including facilitating an easy claims process and expanding digital access.

Some consumers don’t seem to be crying out for usage-based insurance and evidence shows some of the models in use are only mildly predictive at best. Why is that? Why is it that auto insurance companies have not found a way to significantly improve on the traditional metrics of age, zip code and the like despite all the technological advances of the last few decades?

McKeel Hagerty’s parents were into wooden boats and saw an unmet need to underwrite them. Hagerty, however, has been a car nut from day one. When the family’s marine insurance business finally began to offer auto policies in 1991, he saw a chance to join the fold and, along with his sisters, Tammy and Kim, stomp on the pedal.

Allstate and John Hancock recently announced a partnership to reward John Hancock Vitality members with points if the policyholder is also a safe driver with the Allstate Drivewise program. The alliance is the first of its kind and could be an indicator of where the insurance industry may be going.

The pandemic and industry challenges that lie ahead have fast-tracked innovation and a push for much needed modernization in the industry.

Mobile Appraiser Pro uses photo capture technology and AI-powered mobile estimation and valuation tools to provide nearly real-time insight to field appraisers.

Insurance companies are rolling out digital capabilities to revolutionize the claims process. Are customers coming along?

Breakthroughs in AI over the past decade mean we can now use it to train computer vision algorithms to perform visual tasks as accurately or more than humans. Smartphones can be turned into visual experts in your pocket, which can appraise some aspects of the environment better than people.

The unique partnership comes amid an increase in vehicle crash-related deaths and a desire to help customers understand how their choices could potentially support their overall health.

Insurtechs are everywhere, covering every sector and raising money at record-setting clips. But the legacy insurance businesses, from carriers to agencies, have already been here and have the deep pockets to remain. So naturally the story has become about competition for market share.

Digital Insurance spoke with Brett Jurgens, the CEO of Notion, a DIY smart home monitoring company, which is owned by Comcast, about how Notion works with insurers and what benefits smart home monitoring has for policyholders.

Millennials are the most eager to go electric, followed by Generation Z, who also expect to see autonomous vehicles in the next five years. However, 40% of respondents said they expect to never use an autonomous vehicle in their lives. The reason for the EV interest is mostly motivated by money.

Travelers IntelliDrivePlus allows customers more opportunity to increase their usage-based discount at a time when prices are going up.

According to a Breeze survey, 55% of consumers would be interested in buying a hypothetical insurance product from Amazon that used data analytics to determine policy pricing, over a legacy carrier.

A group of the world's biggest insurers and reinsurers jointly pledging to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from their underwriting activities have run into an unexpected opponent of their planet-friendly mission: competition law.

ProNavigator, a purpose-built SaaS knowledge management platform, has a goal to provide accurate information in seconds.

Amplify, a digital life insurance platform, is focused on helping customers build wealth through permanent life insurance.

In other news: Overhaul and Movingdots collaborate; Zurich Resilience Solutions adds DEI service; Vertafore names chief technology officer.

Keynova Group, a financial services intelligence firm specializing in benchmark insights, released its Q4 2021 semi-annual Insurance Scorecard, which ranks and compares the websites of the 12 largest U.S. auto and property insurance carriers.

Asian insurance giant AIA Group Ltd. is considering selling some life insurance legacy assets in Australia as part of its strategy to streamline its portfolio, according to people familiar with the matter.