Auto insurance comparison site Insurify, a tech startup out of MIT in Cambridge, Mass., that recently secured $2 million in its first round of seed funding, has introduced “Evia” (Expert Virtual Insurance Agent), an artificially intelligent virtual insurance agent that aims to find consumers optimized auto insurance coverage with the help of a texted photo of your license plate.
“She” will text you back within minutes with policy quotes and a recommendation. And “she” is working with a couple of independent agencies so she can technically help people secure coverage in all 50 states.
According to the startup’s website, Insurify is “the first online car insurance shopping platform which instantly verifies your customer data to provide intuitive and integrated user experience. We believe that the only way to help people feel comfortable shopping for insurance online is if we can build the brain of a super agent behind our platform. We analyze millions of records, identify patterns and build models to match to your profile. Based on these models, we provide our personalized recommendation to help you make the most confident decision about your coverage and choice of carrier. Our data-driven approach helps you save time and money on your insurance every year.”
In a stab at GEICO’s “15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance,” the site’s home page also says, “Forget about ‘15 minutes to quote.’ In just 3 minutes you will see real quotes and recommendations based on your unique profile.”
Agency Checklists, a “Massachusetts Insurance News” website, posted a lengthy piece March 15 about Insurify’s heady progress so far in 2016. Here are some excerpts of particular interest from that article:
An interesting caveat for independent agents, however, is what happens when a consumer is then interested in buying that insurance product from Insurify. The company, which does not yet sell insurance policies directly online, actually offers its products and services via two independent insurance agencies.
One of the agencies is ClearLink Insurance Agency, LLC of Utah and the other is Massachusetts’ own MassDrive Insurance Group. As both agencies are licensed to operate in all 50 states, these independent agencies effectively provide the ability for Insurify to sell its products nationally.
Insurify is an online comparison shopping service with a terrific front-end user experience and a number of consumer friendly tools that simplify the research process for customers,” explained MassDrive Co-Founder and CEO Bill Suneson. “Through our partnership, we are pleased to provide agency and technology services which support Insurify’s dynamic front-end consumer experience. Given our partner-focused infrastructure, Insurify is a natural fit to drive qualified leads to our digital agency, which is staffed by nationally licensed phone-based agents and features multiple carrier appointments.”
The article includes a Q&A with Insurify to learn more about its origins and aspirations, revealing that its largest markets currently are Texas, California and Florida.
Insurify is hoping that Evia has the potential to be a “game-changer – offering an entirely new channel in which to shop for car insurance – SMS.
• What do you think – can this virtual auto insurance agent make a dent in the auto insurance market? Please sound off on this new thread: Evia the Virtual Auto Insurance Agent
