USAA on Thursday announced it would purchase the smartphone telematics insurer Noblr and use it to sell mileage-based policies.
Terms from the deal weren't disclosed.
Noblr has got the capability to detect and track risky driving actions in addition to miles driven while using sensors within a smartphone.
But USAA said it would keep Noblr separate from the existing USAA SafePilot smartphone-based telematics program, “which primarily uses behavioral data.” USAA will keep both programs optional.
USAA described Noblr like a “usage-based insurance” alternative to SafePilot’s “behavior-based insurance” . It noted that some of the USAA military consumer base was “highly mobile and sometimes deployed.”
“The purchase of Noblr, Inc. increases our competitiveness available on the market and adds the option of UBI capability for our members,” USAA CEO Wayne Peacock said in a statement. “Members will get personalized pricing that matches their risk and usage profile, better treatments for the price of their auto policies and an exceptional end-to-end digital experience.”
Testimonials on Noblr’s website find customers describing being able to save $50-$150 per month.
USAA is anticipated to shut on Noblr later this season. It plans to expand usage-based insurance from Noblr’s current eight states to the remaining country “within the next three years,” including adding more states this year.
“This is a wonderful chance of the Noblr team to quickly and significantly expand the implementation of usage-based telematics to more states and also to serve our military families, USAA members,” Noblr CEO Gary Tolman said in a statement. “We look forward to being a part of the USAA team because they attempt their next century.”
SafePilot alone appears to have been successful for USAA, which in February announced plans for “a hostile SafePilot roll-out within the majority of states throughout 2021.” USAA observed a 200 percent increase in SafePilot usage last year and a 50 % opt-in rate among new customers.
We asked USAA why it might keep SafePilot and Noblr separate rather than marrying them right into a single telematics offering.
“Usage-based insurance is typically a personal car insurance product that bases the price of an insurance policy on how often a driver actually drives,” USAA spokeswoman Lara Hendrickson wrote in an email Tuesday. “For Noblr, Inc.'s product, data is collected how much the driver drives, and adds what type of road the driver is driving on, time the motive force is driving, how the driver is driving and whether they are texting. The information is collected through the Noblr app and analyzed by the insurer, which then uses it to look for the variable portion of the bill. This really is complementary to the SafePilot BBI technology. Both technologies are centered on providing highly competitive car insurance pricing based on individual preferences and behaviors.”
A telematics program offers an insurer with the means to detect collisions, offer emergency help consumers who require it – and theoretically initiate and start handling the claim process immediately.
USAA this past year added Telematics Enabled Auto Claims to SafePilot. Currently, this feature allows policyholders to expedite the claims process by granting permission for USAA to review telematics data related to loss time, date and placement.
“The next phase of TEAC would be the crash detection experience,” Hendrickson wrote Tuesday.
SafePilot is farther along in connection with this than Noblr, based on Hendrickson.
“Noblr does not currently offer crash detection or electronic first notification of loss,” she wrote.
