Huge amount of funds are being spent in the automobile sector in advancing the concepts of self-driven cars and complementary safety systems that will make driving a more secure experience.
According to the Annual Global Road Crash Statistics released by the World Health Organization, road crashes cost a whopping USD 518 billion per year and are predicted to become the 5th leading overall cause of death across the globe by 2030.
Continuous researches and development have been able to reduce the number of car crashes. The introduction of six airbag systems and security tools has been able to minimise the extent of potential injury to the driver. Having said that vehicle still remains largely prone to damage in the event of an accident.
Read Also: How To Build A Personal Finance App
The Need for Auto Insurance Mobile App
The insurance industry is undoubtedly thriving with the number of vehicle accidents rising every year. And repairing these damages to the vehicles is an expensive affair which is why the majority of vehicle owners opt for insurance services.
Having an appropriate motor insurance can save vehicle owners from hefty expenditures of repairing and servicing. Between 2015 and 2016, the auto insurance sector saw a wave of innovating and digitization.
In order to scale these insurance related services to improve customer accessibility and reach, insurance companies were keen to develop auto insurance app with suitable features, as their way forward into the digital future.
With an auto insurance app, insurance companies can be open to more prospective leads by being able to significantly expand their reach. Communicating services and prices through the app to the prospect’s fingertips additionally gives them competitive edge.
With nearly 1.25 million people killed in road accidents each year and another 20 to 50 million individuals being injured and disabled has led to a massive rise in insurance claims too.
Therefore, it makes absolute sense to have a mobile insurance app that streamlines the process. It allows customers the opportunity to leverage the potential of technology to raise their claims online.
The communication with the insurance company is basically hassle-free in this instance.
Creating an Auto Insurance App
Creating a mobile application for the insurance segment can be slightly tricky. One has to understand the basics of the industry first. The three primary factors involved are:
- The insurance company or the insurer
- The policyholder or the insured
- The providers of services covered by the insurance, for example, car repairs in case of an auto insurance
The insurance application should ideally cover all three of these segments in one application or separate applications. In the case of a combination app, the user, upon registering should be able to navigate and access information for the section that is most relevant to him or her.
However, that may have its disadvantages.
- The user is compelled to choose a role which is an added step to the registration process. The global revolution is focussing more on acceleration and simplification of processes which is introducing fewer steps to make the customer experience more enhanced.
- The application will require 3 times more space as it combines 3 segments of the insurance company making it quite heavy. It also translates into more processing power, resources and space on the mobile device.
Having three interconnected apps will help you to add more features when your application becomes too heavy. If three apps are sounding a bit too much, you can consider building two applications – one that caters to your clients and the other for your employees.
Overall, you will find that the effort will be worth the effort of having two applications in place.
Top Features to Include in an Auto Insurance App
The benefits of developing an auto insurance app for your insurance business far outweigh any negatives.
However, you need to ensure that the auto insurance app does have some of the necessary basic features that will enable you to improve levels of service, building customer loyalty for your brand and expand your reach to a wider audience base.
Here is a list of the must-have features in auto insurance app:
1) User Profile
The primary feature of any mobile app is to ensure that the user experiences a simple process of integration. The users should be able to create a profile in a short span of time.
This is possibly one of the most important features that your developers will create for an auto insurance app.
2) Quick Registration Form
The majority of apps will require its user to register on it. With the help of a quick registration form, clients can simply register on the application by inserting their insurance policy number.
Read Also: 11 Best Personal Finance Apps
3) Information about Vehicles
Once the user has registered on the app, he or she will have to provide details of the vehicle such as the model, manufacturer and year of purchase.
5) Push Notifications
This is an extremely vital feature of the application as you need to constantly communicate with your user base.
Through push notifications, you can notify users on any changes in the claim process, share reminders on policy renewals, and any relevant information concerning the auto insurance industry.
6) Documentation
To file an insurance claim, the policy holder must upload pictures of all relevant documents in the app.
Therefore, having functionality where your app allows users to scan their documents and submit them is a must-have. This makes the entire process more real-time.
7) Prompt Pricing
With a pricing functionality, your users can explore pricing quotes depending on their requirements. They can insert the parameters in the application that customers can fill in and gain access to a variety of different quotes that is most relevant as per requirements shared.
8) Claim Filing
This app is an absolute must. The idea is to make raising claims easier and more accessible for your client. Integrating a chatbot here further minimises paperwork.
Users can file the claims themselves without having to physically go the insurance company’s office or reach out to an agent to help them. This greatly optimises resources and enhances the service quality at the same time.
9) Geolocation
This feature will assist your clients to find your workspace conveniently. Additionally, it can also enable the insurance provider to track customer movements.
10) Telematics
This is one among the innovative features that is a fantastic functionality to have on the auto insurance app. Using GPS on the smartphone in combination with artificial intelligence, gyroscopes data and accelerometers, data collected can be analysed to measure customer’s driving expertise.
The driver will have to test this out for over a two week period. The app, during this time, is able to identify patterns in the customer’s driving behaviour.
Aspects that are measurable through this app include locations frequented by the driver, smartphone utilization during driving, the duration of time that the vehicle is in use, if traffic rules are being followed by the driver and any change of roads.
Once the insurance company has access to this information, they can use it to determine the auto insurance premium for the policyholder.
If the driver is low risk because he or she has been able to clear all safety parameters, then the premium amount will be reasonably low.
On the other hand, if the safety risk is considered to be high, the same will be reflected in the premium amount quoted by the insurance company.
11) Policy Review
The ID screen is the personalised space on the app for the user to access his insurance related details. This can be added as the Policy Review screen where your customers will be able to take a look at the policy number, type of policy, premium payments, renewal dates and vehicle specifications.
12) Filters
The majority of drivers will opt to go with a low premium paying auto insurance policy. In fact, some drivers may have separate requirements.
Depending on these needs, the app developers can insert filters to draw more suitable policy options for these niche users.
13) Customer Support
The support service for any business is vital. These key interactions determine whether your customers stay loyal to your insurance brand in the long run.
Having a dedicated customer support service screen is a definite feature that you should have on the auto insurance app.
Some of the possibilities of customer support functionality that you can choose from are:
- Integrating chatbots that allows users to get their basic queries and questions answered promptly
- Live chat support plug-ins can give users access to experts to get solutions to more complex issues
- The customer support screen can also double up as a claim processing platform with users having access to updated insurance details.
This leads to better resource utilization and minimised operational expenditures for the insurance company too. With a more compact team, you can offer better service to your customers.
14) Multi-lingual Assistance
With globalisation, it is imperative for apps to offer the multi-lingual assistance to their customers. This opens up a wider audience base for the insurance company too.
15) Payment Gateway
The most important feature to include in your mobile app is the payment gateway. In order to process purchase of services, policies, etc. the payment option needs to be enabled on the app.
Think of using multiple gateways such as debit cards, credit cards, net banking and even wallets like G Pay.
Read Also: 10 Best Mobile Banking Apps
Future of Auto Insurance Apps
The concept of ‘one size fits all’ is no longer valid in the world of auto insurance. Innovative products such as ‘Try before you Buy’, ‘Pay as you Drive’, etc. are enticing more a more millennial.
There is a distinct shift in user behaviour which insurance companies should adapt for a rapid pace. The future of the insurance app has a lot to do with customisation and personalisation according to client requirements, hence the features may vary accordingly.
Therefore, whenever you choose to build your auto insurance app, ensure that you have done your research and peg user satisfaction as your criteria for the application is success.