On-demand insurer Trōv has partnered with Europe’s second largest car manufacturer, Groupe PSA, to provide insurance for its growing car sharing business. The partnership allows Trōv to expand beyond gadget insurance and into new European countries, with a scheme that looks set to be a key trend in car insurance.
The car sharing market is taking off around Europe, and Groupe PSA’s initiative, Free2Move, is operational in 11 European countries, as well as in Washington D.C. This, therefore, represents a great opportunity for Trōv as it attaches itself to the rapidly growing trend of car sharing.
Companies such as Zip Car, Drivy, Ubeeqo and DriveNow are establishing themselves as cheaper alternatives to Uber (by roughly £3 per hour). The general principle is they have cars scattered around a city (Free2Move has 600 cars parked across Washington D.C., for example); consumers then locate and unlock the cars via the provider’s app. Customers are charged for rental by the mile or per hour, and can leave cars in permitted areas across the city.
Despite the fact Trōv isn’t a motor insurer, the partnership appears to be a perfect fit. The gadget insurer positions itself as a company aiming to change insurance to a more flexible and personal proposition. This is in line with the principles of a car sharing service.
The importance of partnerships such as this one is highlighted by the failure of Kinsu, another insurtech, which announced in March it would no longer offer policies from May 2019.
Kinsu was a relatively well-established start-up that offered a similarly digital, on-demand proposition to gadget insurance. Trōv has been around since 2012 and has raised in excess of $85m, so it is considerably more secure than Kinsu ever was. But its expansion into this developing trend and new countries will help to ensure it does not share Kinsu’s fate.
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