This is my first blog post in a while. I plan to pick up the pace during the latter part of June as I wind down the longest “vacation” in 28+ years. While I plan to resume blogging more often about coverage related issues (I’ve got some really good topics coming up), I felt compelled to do a quick post about another startup that is going to revolutionize the industry. I first commented about a recent interview with their CEO on my LinkedIn Discussion Board.

If you’re not aware, in addition to this blog, I also communicate about industry issues on LinkedIn and via Twitter…you can access them and subscribe from my Contact page:

This new startup claims that they can place homeowners insurance without an application of any kind. They basically need to know your name and address, then they get all the data they need from other sources. Presumably this process takes a couple of minutes and that’s it. I invite you to read the interview and then join the discussion. This “We can write your insurance in 2-3 minutes” mantra is becoming a common theme with many of these startups. The rationale is improving the “customer experience.” What about the customer experience of having a 6-figure (or greater) uncovered loss because nobody took the time to prompt the consumer for exposures?

I make this point in the LinkedIn discussion:

“If you were going to sky dive for the first time, would you pack your parachute yourself? Would you insist that someone else pack it as fast as possible with almost no attention to detail because you’re in a hurry? Or pack it with their eyes closed? My insurance program is my financial parachute. There are no shortcuts to security unless you’re buying insurance with no exclusions or policy limits and most of what is being sold on the internet is far from that.”

So what do you think? Are regulators who welcome these startups with open arms really doing their constituents a service by embracing “fast and cheap”? Or are they simply insuring (no pun intended) financial ruin for perhaps a great many of them? For more discussion, scroll down to the Comments section of this post and visit the LinkedIn discussion on this subject.

I wonder if the individuals often quoted in these InsurTech articles really, truly understand what insurance is all about and what they’re doing or think they’re doing. The coming years will be interesting. Either I’ll be remembered as a cautionary visionary or a cranky old guy living in the past and yelling at the big data kids to get off of his lawn.

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Bill Wilson

Founder at InsuranceCommentary.com
One of the premier insurance educators in America on form, coverage, and technical issues; Founder and director of the Big “I” Virtual University; Retired Assoc. VP of Education and Research from Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. Reprint Request Information