Selling motor insurance in Europe has always been a challenging task for the automotive industry, due to its enormous diversity. While European Union (EU) legislation gives uniformity to regulation, which is extremely welcome, there are still many variants that are complex to navigate.
As a result, in some markets, penetration rates (the number of vehicles sold compared to the number of motor insurance policies sold) are well above 60%, in other markets they struggle to become two-digit.
We also see markets where the FS arms of automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) dedicate themselves to only a single insurance partner; for them it makes business sense as they have to deal with a reduced number of interfaces. But in specific markets, alternatives or insurance panels (either complementary or competitive) are needed to meet end customer expectations.
This raises the challenge of customer loyalty - especially difficult in the car insurance sector, where it is a mandatory spend rather than a purchase driven by want. As automotive OEMs seek to drive brand loyalty via their insurance products, they are starting to have to think about non-traditional ways to attract and retain, via increased touchpoints and an enhanced customer experience.
Gone are the days where it was enough to simply ‘give away’ a period of free insurance, in conjunction with a finance or lease offer. The industry is moving past this, towards a holistic, deep tech approach. The term ‘embedded insurance’ has been something of a boardroom buzzword and all the major players see the advantages of a truly seamless purchase journey from vehicle to insurance.
To truly realise the full extent of what embedded insurance can offer, innovation is needed. Legacy systems that the insurance industry currently rely on just aren’t going to be fit-for-purpose going forward. An independent state-of-the-art platform that is insurer agnostic and makes use of data and intelligent tools is needed to move customers along the path of purchase. And, if the tech is the brains of the operation then customer experience must be the heart; no great embedded insurance offering can exist if the needs of all stakeholders are not understood and met.
One of the things that Wrisk is so proud of is our quiet, stealth mode of the past couple of years, which has allowed us to build, flex and adapt to create something that all our clients and partners are excited by. We’ve given some industry behemoths a look at what we can do and filled our European advisory board in no time - they view our capabilities and want to be part of our journey.
It is with this framework in place that we look forward to growth across Europe, as we roll out embedded insurance 2.0 to the continent.