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Google Thinks the Insurance Industry May Be Ripe For Disruption
HughPickens.com writes: The insurance industry is a fat target — there's were about $481 billion in premiums in 2013, and agents' commissions of about $50 billion. Now Conor Dougherty writes in the NYT that the boring but lucrative trade has been attracting big names like Google, which has formed a partnership with Comparenow, an American auto insurance comparison site that will give Google access to insurers in Comparenow's network. "A lot of people are waking up to the fact that it's a massive industry, it's old-fashioned, they still use human agents and the commissions are pretty big," says Jennifer Fitzgerald. It may seem like an odd match for Google, whose projects include driverless cars, delivery drones and a pill to detect cancer, but the key to insurance is having lots of data about people's backgrounds and habits, which is perhaps the company's greatest strength. "They have a ton of data on where people drive, how people drive," says Jon McNeill. "It's the holy grail of being able to price auto insurance correctly."
People in the industry and Silicon Valley say it is only a matter of time before online agencies attack the armies of intermediaries that are the backbone of the trade, and Google could present formidable competition for other insurance sellers. As many as two-thirds of insurance customers say they would consider purchasing insurance products from organizations other than insurers, including 23 percent who would consider buying from online service providers such as Google and Amazon. Google Compare auto insurance site has already been operating in Britain for two years as a search engine for auto insurance prices.
People in the industry and Silicon Valley say it is only a matter of time before online agencies attack the armies of intermediaries that are the backbone of the trade, and Google could present formidable competition for other insurance sellers. As many as two-thirds of insurance customers say they would consider purchasing insurance products from organizations other than insurers, including 23 percent who would consider buying from online service providers such as Google and Amazon. Google Compare auto insurance site has already been operating in Britain for two years as a search engine for auto insurance prices.
You carry a phone with a gps unit in it and you are not sure?
Google Maps — on every Android phone, and on many iPhones as well. If you use it — and many people do — here is, what Google knows about where you've been.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I would not want Google, a massive data mining company, to use its access to private and confidential information to sell anyone insurance. Just imagine "You searched 'hit and run' twice in the past year, and 'how to dispose of a dead body' once, your premium goes up by 1000%".
>> it is only a matter of time before online agencies attack the armies of intermediaries that are the backbone of the trade
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=online+in...
So commissions are $50/$481 = about 10%. In other words, a fairly minor factor; you can usually save that by switching companies. Sure, it would be nice to chop 10% off your bill; but that is hardly a "major disruption". Even a caveman can chop 15% off your bill; who needs technology?
Most major carriers are moving towards online services already. If Google enters the market, their efforts can quickly be matched, leaving no net advantage for Google.
Getting insurance isn't the problem.
Getting companies to honor it, is.
Given how difficult it is to track down support from Google for support on some of their current offerings, I'm not sure insurance will be much of an improvement in customer experience.
Their cars aren't on the market yet. They have no data on my driving.
Hmm... this leads to an interesting thought. Google may be looking to insure their cars. Insurance is one of the most notable burdens that autonomous cars will face, with the question of who will pay in the case of an accident (the manufacturer or the owner's insurance company).
If Google underwrites both manufacturing and insurance, they might be able to easily skip that hurdle altogether and gets the cars on the market faster.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
The traditional life/health/auto insurance markets have been the target for the next collateralized security market. With some quiet legislative changes to insurable interest regulations, the likes of Goldman Sachs will soon be shorting your grandfather's life*. And once that market becomes established, the holders of the most valuable behavioral data will have an advantage in pricing the various tranches of risks properly. That would be Google.
*There has been legislation proposed at State and Federal levels (already passed?) allowing "poor old grandpa" to sell the future benefits of his life insurance, which he has been paying premiums on for years, for a lump sum of cash he can use while he's still alive. Once this new paper hits the securities market, is bundled and then sliced into risk pools, we have the makings of the next securities crisis. Watch for terms being used in the investment community like "catastrophic longevity" and think about the people who will be lobbying against the FDA's approval of the next miracle cancer cure.
Have gnu, will travel.
Actually no. When I'm driving I care not for incoming phone calls or text messages. Heck, when I'm on the bike I couldn't answer even if I wanted to.
[John]
Shit better not happen!
It will not be as easy as breaking up the travel agents business using the net by buying the ITA software or something like that.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Google provide a la cart pricing.
Now that would be interesting. "You drove for a total of 6 hours and 51 minuets last month and major metro area, using your own vehicle presently valued at $X" You bill based on the risk you exposed us to is $Y.
That could be interesting.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
While it is admirable that you are using the foil in a manner that gives it more functionality than it would if you were to use it as a hat, I worry that the underlying motives are the same either way.
My brother has an app on his smart phone that not only reports host fast you are moving, but if you're moving faster than some set speed, it puts the phone on silent. He longer gets bothered by his phone ringing or flashing him while driving.
There are two settings on Android that let you control this. Location reporting, and location history. They are named similar, so it might be confusing. Location history allows apps like Google Now etc to work, but ironically, does not store your data in this specific history thing (mine is blank, for example, despite using a Nexus 5 with location history on). Location reporting is a terrible battery drain, and designed to "ping" apps when you move around. This "ping" is also what goes to Google and updates this map.
Thus, to stay off this list but still get to use everything in Android, simply turn Location reporting off.
Seriously Google, don't mess with the insurance industry. Don't mess with any part of it. They will make you pay. Look at what happened in 2010; we thought we were going to finally get a single-payer option for Americans and instead the federal government handed out the largest corporate handout in the history of government to the health insurance industry.
If Google tries to disrupt the insurance industry we soon will have no Google.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I'm still trying to figure out, from the synopis, how Google is gathering information on where and how I drive??
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Google doesn't know if I am the one doing the driving.
The insurance of the party found liable for the injury - does that make it any clearer? If you hit someone, your insurance covers it.
And yes, in the UK healthcare is indeed covered by the Government through the NHS. You get a free ride to A&E (ER), a free bed, all the doctoring you need to ensure you aren't going to die from your injuries, whatever ongoing surgeries you need to improve your life etc.
But once you are off that ventilator? Can't work for the rest of your life due to brain injury? Need 24/7 nursing care? Mobility assistance? That's what the insurance covers. Otherwise its basic NHS and government welfare, which is more than adequate to enable you to live but leaves much room for improvement.
My phone takes it one step further. There is a trial running in my city for S Drive. The Samsung program not only locks your phone into a driving mode where it limits your use of apps, but it also rewards you for safe use of the phone while driving (i.e. not touching the phone and using only basic voice commands).
For every km you drive you get points.
For every unsafe action (touching your phone) you lose points.
Points are redeemable for real products.
It's not a bad idea, and the phone magically handles everything when I put it into the dock.
Here is just one example. MRI costs less than half in France as it does in the US. Sounds great. Until you realize that the wait time to get an MRI is more that three times longer.
That's bullshit.
Wait times are much longer in the US if you're not rich. The median time for a hip replacement in Australia is 100 days, for someone who hasn't got a high income in the US its over 12 months, if you haven't got insurance you're pretty much expected to die with the bad hip.
The US like to cherry pick its wait times by deliberately excluding patients under a certain income level.
You've got zero idea how the health care systems work in France, the UK or any other country because you rely on propaganda rather than facts.
You can keep your high cost/long wait industry, however you cant call it superior in any way.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I regularly use my phone for navigation, it used to speed up my home commute considerably, but now I drive from a better location.
Google appears to have no location data for me. I turn off all the extra location services and only enable the GPS. I have been thinking of pursuing a class action lawsuit over this.
Every time I enable the GPS I am prompted to allow google location services. I always say no, but if I try to check "don't ask again", it defaults to yes. They are claiming to allow opt-in, but forcing you to opt-out every time you use it and only allowing you to permanently opt-in, you can't permanently opt-out.
Cheap storage VM.