Zubie, a connected car startup that was formed as a partnership between Best Buy and OpenAir Equity Partners, has teamed up with Progressive Insurance PGR.
The two companies are collaborating on an "industry-first telematics solution" that will reward consumers who drive safely.
"The Progressive partnership is really powerful and really interesting," Tim Kelly, CEO of Zubie, told Benzinga. "Progressive has been the market leader in the insurance category in using usage-based information to help rate policies. Because our Zubie customers are out driving everyday, we are able to capture the same type of information in our cloud that Progressive uses for underwriting purposes in its Snapshot program."
The new partnership will allow Zubie customers to share their data with Progressive. Kelly stressed that this feature is purely optional. If consumers take advantage of it, Progressive will be able to use that data to provide an insurance quote.
"Zubie is the first time that [Progressive is] leveraging a connected car platform for the purpose of getting access to customers and data," said Kelly. "We think that's a great endorsement of our business and the momentum that we're getting in the marketplace."
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Zubie's pitch is pretty simple: the company aims to make driving easier, safer and less expensive. Kelly explained how Zubie's service accomplishes that. "In the area of making driving safer, we're providing the customer with analytics with how they drive their cars and where their cars are at any given point in time," said Kelly. "That gets displayed to the customer through a driving score that gets updated after each drive." If the driver is speeding, turning or braking in an unusual manner, Zubie will send an alert in real-time. "In the area of making driving less expensive, we provide the user with a complete set of diagnostic information about the car," Kelly explained. "So whenever there's an issue with the vehicle, the customer is notified about that in real-time. Instead of just saying, 'You've got a problem here,' we try to give greater context around that."© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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