Just about a year after Allstate CEO Tom Wilson
National General will create a usage-based insurance program using Arity's mobile-app telematics technology and its underlying analytics and scoring, the companies have announced. The carrier offers its products through several different distribution partners, especially related to its acquisition of GMAC Insurance several years ago, which will use the white-label app to match their brand.
The company has, for some time, offered a miles-driven discount powered by GM's OnStar telematics technology, but this new program will be more behaviorally driven, says Tom Newgarden, President of National General Preferred. He added that the company was looking for a partner that had "billions and billions" of miles of driving data behind its score.
"This is going to be more a score that's generated by Arity based on their proprietary data," Newgarden says. "It's our first foray in terms of the driving behavior."
He says that a recently completed policy-admin consolidation project has made it a lot easier for the company to incorporate new digital innovations into its business. National General bought core systems software developed by sister company AmTrust insurance that allows it to "hook into things like this in months," Newgarden says.
The first National General-Arity UBI product will roll out in North Carolina next year.
"We have about 500 store fronts, the No. 1 independent agent state for us, we also have direct to consumer, so it exposes it to all of our distribution channels," Newgarden says. "We'll get to see how people respond to it."
