DealerPolicy Blog

Polly Delivers First Personalized Insurance Enrollment Integrated Into The Auto Retail Experience

DealerPolicy — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 16:15:00 GMT

BURLINGTON, VT (February 24, 2022) – Polly, the leading insurance marketplace for automotive retail, today announced the launch of the first personalized insurance enrollment fully integrated within the consumer’s car shopping experience. Leveraging Cox Automotive’s Dealer Web Integration API, Polly now provides a seamless and comprehensive car shopping experience that allows shoppers to receive instant, personalized insurance quotes during the research phase of their car-buying process.

DealerPolicy Announces New Strategic Partnership with APCO Holdings

DealerPolicy — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 16:00:00 GMT

DealerPolicy Appoints Insurance Industry Veteran Tom Super as Head of Agency Solutions

DealerPolicy — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 16:07:16 GMT

DealerPolicy Announces $110 million Series C Funding Led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management

DealerPolicy — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 13:30:00 GMT

Leading insurtech marketplace will expand its operations and partnerships across the automotive retail ecosystem

DealerPolicy Collaborates with JM&A Group and Darwin to Deliver Next Generation Finance and Insurance Solutions

DealerPolicy — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Pioneers in their respective industries unite to deliver innovative automotive insurance solutions to dealers and car buyers nationwide

DealerPolicy Makes Fast Company's Third Annual List of the Best Workplaces for Innovators Among Medium-Sized Companies

DealerPolicy — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 18:12:44 GMT

Automotive Retail's Next Gen F&I Leader DealerPolicy Joins Google, Samsung, Mattel, IBM, General Motors, Moderna, and many others as Standout Workplace for Innovators

WILLISTON, Vt., Aug. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Fast Company announced its third annual Best Workplaces for Innovators list, honoring businesses and organizations that demonstrate a deep commitment to encouraging innovation at all levels. DealerPolicy proudly announces it has been named a top five finalist in the medium-sized company category, which features organizations having between 100-999 employees.

Developed in collaboration with Accenture, the 2021 Best Workplaces for Innovators ranks 100 winners from a variety of industries, including computer science, biotech, consumer packaged goods, nonprofit, education, financial services, cybersecurity, and engineering. Working together, Fast Company editors and Accenture researchers scored nearly 1,500 applications, and a panel of eight eminent judges reviewed and endorsed the top 100 companies. The 2021 awards feature workplaces from around the world with several of the honorees based outside the U.S.

"It is an honor to be recognized by Fast Company as one of the leading mid-sized innovative workplace environments," says Kristin Halpin Perry, Chief People Officer at DealerPolicy. "At DealerPolicy, we are deeply committed to bringing one of the most underserved – but absolutely essential – areas of auto retail into the modern-day workflow, and that is the area of auto insurance. By nature, auto insurance and financing are sophisticated, complex transactions with many variables. DealerPolicy has been able to deliver breakthrough, integrated solutions because we have such a talented, collaborative, and innovative team. Thank you to Fast Company, and most of all, thank you to the exceptional crew at DealerPolicy for making all of this happen."

"These leaders and teams created cultures of innovation and sustained them, even as remote work extended into 2021," says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. "This newest list of the Best Workplaces for Innovators honors those organizations that found ways to collaborate and invent despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, ensuring employees were at the forefront."

To see the complete list, go to: www.fastcompany.com/best-workplaces-for-innovators/2021

Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators issue (September 2021) is available online now, and the print issue will be on newsstands beginning August 17, 2021. Join the Best Workplaces for Innovators conversation using #FCBestWorkplaces.

ABOUT FAST COMPANY
Fast Company is the world's leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, ethonomics (ethical economics), leadership, and design. Written for, by, and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company and FastCompany.com inspire readers and users to think beyond traditional boundaries, lead conversations, and create the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with its sister publication Inc. Stephanie Mehta is editor-in-chief.

ABOUT ACCENTURE
Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology, and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions—underpinned by the world's largest delivery network—Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With 482,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

ABOUT DEALERPOLICY
DealerPolicy is the most trusted and complete digital insurance marketplace for automotive retailers and their valued customers. The company's innovative mobile technology enables car-buyers to view multiple insurance quotes and immediately connect with licensed insurance agents to purchase insurance. With an exclusive combination of partnerships among premier automotive retailers and data providers, an industry-best insurance carrier network, and access to DealerPolicy Insurance licensed agents, DealerPolicy is recognized for its place at the forefront of Insurtech. DealerPolicy Insurance is a licensed insurance agency, with licenses to operate in the lower 48 states. For more information, visit www.dealerpolicy.com.

Protect Your Bottom Line from the Global Chip Shortage

mkenton@dealerpolicy.com (Mike Kenton) — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 13:03:00 GMT

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions and shakeups in nearly every industry, leaving behind a wake of devastation for many. Now, a semiconductor (chip) shortage threatens to severely affect the world’s largest automakers.

Why is there a chip shortage

A shift in demand for these essential semiconductors began when worldwide lockdowns were going into effect and consumer habits were beginning to change. When many automakers were forced to temporarily shut down their production facilities, simultaneously, work-from-home, remote healthcare, and virtual-learning were beginning to accelerate. Because of these shifts in demand, many chipmakers began reassigning production capacity and supplying chips to support these growing areas. Instead of providing chips to automakers as they normally would, these chipmakers began supplying companies making items such as laptops, gaming devices, and smartphones.

Many industry experts believed that production and sales of new cars would be drastically down and while there was certainly a downturn, the recovery in sales and production volumes was much stronger than expected. With the need for chips back up to a normal pre-COVID level (or maybe even above that) and the bottlenecks incurred due to supply chain disruptions, the chip makers can’t easily scale up fast enough to meet the increased demand.

In a nutshell:

DealerPolicy Named #1 Tech Startup in Vermont by the Tech Tribune

DealerPolicy — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 13:42:47 GMT

We're proud to announce that we've been named the #1 tech startup in Vermont by the Tech Tribune.

Read more here: 2021 Best Tech Startups in Vermont

DealerPolicy Raises $30 million in Series B Funding to Support the Continued Development of Automotive Retail’s Leading Insurance Marketplace

DealerPolicy — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 15:15:00 GMT

Company Expands Leadership to Include Industry Veterans in Automotive Retailing and P&C Insurance

DealerPolicy’s New Study Highlights There’s More to Car Buying Than Just Buying the Car

DealerPolicy — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 13:49:09 GMT

DealerPolicy’s Survey of Dealers and Car Buyers Confirms Auto Insurance is a Major Influencer on Customer Satisfaction, Spending Power, and Dealership Profitability

BURLINGTON, VT (December 28, 2020) – DealerPolicy, the leading insurance marketplace solution for dealers, unveiled the results from its latest survey of dealers and car buyers about their experience and expectations involving auto insurance as part of the car buying process. The ‘Automotive Retail & Auto Insurance Trends for 2021’ study surveyed 300 dealership executives and 1,000 consumers who purchased a vehicle in the past six months. Although both categories of respondents agreed that insurance was a necessary part of the buying process, their sentiments differed drastically when it came to accessibility, transparency, and the convenience of auto insurance. Bottom line: dealers have a massively underleveraged opportunity to impact customer loyalty, satisfaction, and their bottom line by integrating insurance into the sales process.

“We’ve long known that both dealers and buyers view auto insurance as inseparable from the car buying process, but more recently, we’ve examined where the disconnect occurs. The results were astonishing,” says Travis Fitzgerald, CEO of DealerPolicy. “The exciting news for dealers and car buyers is that an integrated tech-enabled auto insurance solution is now available to bridge the gap, presenting a cascade of benefits to everyone involved. The power of consistently delivering savings and buying power to facilitate a better customer experience and superior dealer profitability, is undeniable.”

The DealerPolicy study researched perspectives, perceptions and experiences across categories including:

Affordability and spending power
Actual versus perceived cost of insurance
Assistance with and access to insurance options at time of sale
Interest in utilizing a real-time policy-bound digital insurance option at time of purchase
Potential revenue opportunities.

DealerPolicy analysts learned that car buyers themselves believe they would benefit from an integrated insurance option that revealed potential savings. Sixty-nine percent of the buyer respondents indicated they would likely buy a nicer car, and sixty-four percent said they would likely add on F&I protection products, creating additional revenue opportunities for dealerships.

Yet only sixteen percent of dealers had a franchised insurance agent on site, and only nineteen percent connected the car buyer to an agent via phone. It is no surprise then that forty-nine percent of car buyers believe dealers did not assist with insurance at time of purchase, leaving profit and customer satisfaction on the table.

“When it comes to insurance, we developed the DealerPolicy Marketplace because of the positive impact we could have on the car-buying process, a transaction that was in desperate need of speed, choice and transparency. And now, our latest study supports the original hypothesis we had,” adds Fitzgerald.

Other key findings in the report include:

Dealers think they are twice as helpful as consumers report when it comes to auto insurance
- 93% of dealers say they helped the customer with insurance, but…
- 49% of customers report dealers did nothing to help
The current sales process doesn’t work
- 90% of dealers think insurance could negatively impact their selling opportunity, but…
- 71% of customers would like insurance information at time of purchase, and…
- More than 60% would use those savings to buy a nicer car or F&I products
A new car doesn’t have to mean a higher insurance rate
- Rather than shopping for competitive rates, 71% of customers simply add their new vehicle to their existing policy for a similar rate or higher, but…
- 62% of DealerPolicy Insurance customers who reported their prior policy cost saved when they compared and shopped policies online at the time of purchase.

DealerPolicy Insurance customers who saved recognized an average gain of $63 per month, or $762 per year back in their budgets. When financed, those savings translate into $3,694 of buying power, which is often reinvested in value-add F&I products to further protect their new vehicle. Dealers in DealerPolicy’s network report an average increase of 34% in their back-end gross for customers that also purchased an insurance policy through DealerPolicy Insurance.

The ‘Automotive Retail & Auto Insurance Trends for 2021’ study is part one of DealerPolicy’s two-part study. The second half dives into misconceptions and myths around digital auto insurance and will be released in early 2021. For a copy of the first study, please visit www.dealerpolicy.com/2021-dealerpolicy-study.