Many major car insurers provide apps to make purchasing and accessing digital proof of insurance easier and provide roadside assistance; others even include features like route planners.
Insurers are taking advantage of smartphones’ GPS sensors, accelerometers, and gyroscopes to assess driving skills. For instance, GEICO’s DriveEasy service tracks behavior to reward safer drivers with lower premiums.
1. Real-time tracking
Some insurance companies provide apps that monitor your driving behavior and reward safe drivers with lower premiums. These devices often come equipped with physical telematics devices to connect directly to your vehicle or use your smartphone sensors to collect data such as speeding, sudden accelerations, hard braking and the time of day you drive.
While such apps seem beneficial, there are various risks involved, including privacy invasion and false claims. Furthermore, the tracking feature may become misleading under certain conditions – for instance when slamming on brakes to avoid collision.
Make sure your car insurance app includes a geolocation feature for easy tracking. Furthermore, allow users to upload images for claim processing.
2. Roadside assistance
If you find yourself stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire or dead battery, having an insurance company app with reliable roadside assistance features could come in handy. Some apps provide services like jump starts, fuel delivery* and flat tire changes while others may provide more comprehensive coverage such as on-scene labor services.
Root’s app gives you access to 24-Hour Roadside Assistance at no additional charge as long as it falls under your towing and labor coverage. Just open the app, use fingerprint login, and tap File a Claim when ready.
Some auto insurers also provide roadside assistance insurance. Allstate’s Drivewise app, for instance, helps drivers earn discounts by monitoring their driving behavior and adjusting their premium accordingly.
3. Claims management
Car insurance apps help policyholders perform tasks that would normally require speaking with insurance company representatives, like filing claims and tracking their progress. They also enable policyholders to access their auto ID cards and roadside assistance services. Telematics programs as well as usage-based insurance programs can be added and rates managed through these applications.
USAA’s app scores high marks in The Zebra’s annual customer satisfaction survey and boasts top reviews both on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Other highly regarded insurance apps include State Farm, Geico and Allstate.
Insurance apps offer great potential to significantly cut claims processing costs by replacing paper forms with digital transactions and automating more of them. But for full policyholder satisfaction to be realized, such apps must offer an end-to-end experience utilizing intelligent automation technology.
4. Policy renewal
Auto insurance apps provide clients with convenience, transparency, and easy access to their information. In-app notifications alert users of all critical updates including messages in support chat, roadside assistance information, traffic updates and more.
Most car insurance policies automatically renew at the end of their term, but to prevent accidentally agreeing to this renewal process you should contact your insurer before it renews and tell them not to renew your policy.
Some auto insurance apps, like GEICO’s Snapshot and Nationwide’s SmartRide, offer drivers discounts when using them to track driving behaviors. But beware – certain insurance companies may charge cancellation fees if you cancel midterm; others require you to submit a letter of cancellation – it’s therefore essential that you research various auto insurers prior to selecting one.
5. Document management
Document management is an essential feature for car insurance apps. Insurance firms need to deal with large volumes of paper documents every day, including customer proofs, policy forms, contract agreements and claims submissions; thus it is imperative that an effective document management process exists.
An app for car insurance with built-in document management features allows users to store, access, and upload all relevant electronic documents. Furthermore, users can track the status of their claims in real time.
Additionally, this app features business workflow support features like quick emailing and faster search functions to increase employee efficiency. Furthermore, it helps companies comply with regulatory compliance mandates like HIP AA, CIPR, SOX and FFIEC requirements, while simultaneously helping provide high quality services to their customers through improved documentation and reduced turnaround times.