Entries Tagged as 'Personal Auto'
25 February 2008 · Comments Off
It looks like the drought of players in the Massachusetts personal auto insurance marketplace might be ending. Progressive (PGR) appears to be entering the fray, according to Insurance Journal:
Progressive Insurance said it plans to begin selling personal auto insurance in Massachusetts starting May 1 if state regulators approve the company’s rate filings, which it submitted to the Bay State’s insurance department this morning.[...]
“We appreciate the work the Division has done to create a regulatory environment that allows companies to compete for customers,” said Wilton-Bransch. “We hope that come May 1, drivers will check out progressive.com and see what we have to offer.”
Progressive is the second company to enter the partially deregulated Mass Auto market, with Liberty Mutual’s Peerless Insurance having already submitted its initial filing.
Having a new entrant into the market, at a time when the existing players are encumbered by limitations on rate changes granted to existing customers, seems like an intriguing opportunity for some entertaining pricing chaos.
Progressive will apparently start off as an online-only writer, with telemarketers getting licensed and independent agents being appointed later.
One wonders how long it will be until the Gecko or Erin will begin to grace ads in/around Boston.
Tags:
Insurance · Massachusetts Auto · Personal Auto · Progressive
15 February 2008 · 1 Comment
Ever since I was first intimately exposed to business-method patents for a project in a prior life, I’ve been amazed that what should be a no-brainer idea can actually be patented and a limited monopoly granted. For example, consider this article at Insurance Journal about a new feature of Progressive’s (PGR) product:
Progressive’s concierge level of claims service is now available through 54 centers in metropolitan markets in the U.S. In most states, the driver needs only to report the claim, drop off the car and drive away in a rental car. Progressive then writes an estimate for the damage and contacts a repair facility to pick up the car and fix the damages. Once the car is repaired, it is returned to the center, the repairs are inspected and the customer is notified. When the customer returns, he or she picks up the car and drives away knowing that the repairs are guaranteed by Progressive and the shop.
It’s also worth noting that even though it’s a heckuva customer service benefit to throw into the mix of the commodity-like world of personal auto insurance, there seems to be a fringe benefit to the service: According to the IJ article, average repair times are just shy of 5 days shorter than in the traditional arrange-it-yourself scenario…and, one of the odd realities of auto insurance claims is that faster settlements mean smaller settlements, all other things being equal.
Tags:
Insurance · Personal Auto
