Timeline: Google's Rise and Fall in Auto Insurance
February 23, 2016 1:47 PM
The news that Google was exiting its auto insurance aggregation site, Google Compare, today was surprising given the company's years-long journey in the industry on two sides of the Atlantic. Here's a recap:
March 2011
Google buys BeatThatQuote, an auto insurance aggregator in the UK. The UK has a robust history of online insurance aggregation leading to sales, with more than 4 in 10 consumers beginning their buying process on an aggregators, according to Forrester.
September 2012
The first Google Compare site launches in the UK.
August 2013
Google hires Nicolas Weng Kan as CEO of Compare. Weng Kan joins Google from Confused.com, the most successful aggregator in the UK.
December 2014
Meredith Stechbart, Corporate Treasurer for Googles insurance entity and who has the job of Regulatory Operations Program Manager at big Google, added San Francisco-based aggregator CoverHound as one of the companies shes authorized to transact on behalf of in addition to Google Compare Auto Insurance Services Inc. on her California individual producer license. The news is revealed to the industry at large by Ellen Carney of Forrester and leads to rampant speculation and intrigue about Google's pending entrance to the U.S. auto insurance market.
March 2015
The Google Compare site launches in California, with diverse carrier, aggregator and technology launch partners including Coverhound, Compare.com, Mercury Insurance, MetLife Auto & Home, and Bolt Solutions.
May 2015
Stephanie Cuthbertson, group product manager for Google Compare, says at Googles AdWords Performance Summit that the site will roll out soon in three additional states: Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
June 2015
USAA becomes the largest U.S. insurance carrier to begin selling through Google Compar.
November 2015
Google Compare finally launches in a second state: Illinois.
February 2016
Google abruptly announces that Compare will be shut down in the U.S. and UK within a month of a Feb. 23, 2016 memo to its partners.