Insurance carriers step up Spanish-language options, digital services

People who speak Spanish will have more access to digital tools as carriers begin to provide online content and customer support options for them, according to Keynova Group, a financial services intelligence firm specializing in benchmark insights. 

The company released its Q2 2023 Online Insurance Scorecard, which evaluates the website offerings from the 12 largest U.S. property and casualty firms. More than half of the carriers that were analyzed explicitly list customer support numbers in Spanish. 

Progressive received the highest score. State Farm came in second and GEICO was third. 

Additionally, insurers are focused on increasing user experience by offering more digital quoting tools, including more access to live chat: 50% of firms offer live chat support in the public claims area of their websites. Insurers have also started adding wait times for live agent support when transferring from a digital assistant. 

The report also highlights that Nationwide and State Farm are incorporating their usage-based insurance solution into vehicle systems. For example, Nationwide's SmartRide tool works with Amazon Alexa and State Farm is working with FordPass and Lincoln Way's telematics apps.

Beth Robertson, managing director, Keynova Group, told Digital Insurance, in an email, that carriers are expanding into more areas using the embedded insurance model. 

"Embedding with partner solutions, as Nationwide and State Farm are doing, benefits consumers through the coupling of each carrier's usage-based telematics solution with that of the partner firm," she said.

According to a report from TransUnion, telematics adoption is decreasing amongst consumers who are more cost-conscious, likely because people are driving more and roads are riskier. 

The potential risk that driving behaviors may cause insurance rates to increase and trial periods that lead to delayed discounts are potential factors, according to Michelle Jackson, senior director of personal property and casualty insurance in TransUnion's insurance business. 

More than half of consumers surveyed still opt-in to programs, but the number has gone down from a year ago.