How will you approach your potential new customers in 5 years?

Cambridge Mobile Telematics’ latest report, “Onboarding and Claims: Managing Expectations at Point of Contact,” analyzes U.S. drivers’ perspectives and priorities collected in two surveys conducted in 2020 and 2021. The report is the third installment of the series From Crisis to Opportunity: Charting Insurance Innovation in 2021, which was published earlier this year.

Key Findings
U.S. drivers’ preferences are changing and agents should note: 70% of young drivers expect that their next auto insurance quote may come from a non-traditional insurer. Also, a majority of respondents regardless of age were more flexible about how they purchase insurance.

On-boarding: Point of Quote and Distribution Channels
Online and mobile are now the preferred channels to retrieve quotes and purchase insurance but it really varies by age group and location. Being quoted using Try-Before-You-Buy apps has also gained popularity over the past year, fueled by the understanding that driving less should lead to paying less. When asked in the context of pricing models drivers preferred, 18% of respondents chose the TBYB method. The new report also includes a visual, “Quoting Channels Preferences by Age Segment in the US” for a more detailed view of this data.

Drivers Experience with Claims
Out of the 2,000 respondents 63% of surveyed drivers said that they had been in a crash. The graph in the report, “Drivers Having had a Crash per Road Types,” illustrated the data collected about the current patterns in crash detections found from this survey. CMT analyzed the data with a claims lens to find a majority of drivers found the process to be straightforward and easy. Younger drivers responded with the highest satisfaction levels, while millennials have had the least satisfied experience.

More Young People get into Crashes
63% of the 2,000 drivers surveyed said they had been in a crash. However, half (50%) of the drivers ages 18 to 24 reported that they have had an accident. This implies that the claims process is something the majority of drivers have gone through already. A takeaway from the feedback of their experience with claims is that the process works well and phones are still the favored channel. 

In terms of what’s next, the report found that drivers are more open to insurance coming from a non-traditional provider than last year. 

For the complete set of data points and their analysis, download the full report here.