Root Insurance

Root Insurance is a Columbus, Ohio-based auto insurer that bases its rates on how customers drive rather than on traditional demographic factors. The carrier operates as a subsidiary of Root, Inc. and sells coverage directly online, through independent agents, and through embedded partnerships with other consumer brands. A mobile app that tracks driving behavior sits at the center of its underwriting model.

Website: root.com

Head office address: 80 E. Rich Street, Suite 500, Columbus, Ohio 43215

Founded: 2015

Founders: Alex Timm and Dan Manges

Company type: public company (NASDAQ: ROOT); operates through subsidiaries Root Insurance Company and Root Property & Casualty Insurance Company

Business focus: telematics-based auto insurance and renters insurance

Regions served: auto insurance in more than 35 states; renters insurance in nine states

History of Root Insurance

Timm and Manges founded the company in 2015 on the idea that driving behavior, not demographics, should set a driver’s price. The business grew from a small Columbus startup into a publicly traded insurer with a national footprint.

• 2015: Alex Timm and Dan Manges found the company in Columbus to build an auto insurer priced on individual driving behavior
• 2018: Matt Bonakdarpour joins as chief technology officer, later taking on a broader leadership role at the company
• 2020: the insurer goes public on the NASDAQ, in what stood as Ohio’s largest IPO at the time
• 2021: Manges steps down as chief technology officer, and Root Insurance expands its reach through a partnership with Carvana that embeds auto coverage into online car buying
• 2024: Bonakdarpour adds the title of president while keeping his CTO role, and the company reports its first profitable quarter
• 2025: the carrier partners with Hyundai Capital America to offer coverage to drivers financing vehicles through the automaker’s lending arm
• 2026: Root launches a 24-hour agent appointment program and adds embedded-distribution partnerships with apps including Kikoff, Jerry, and Hugo

These moves mark a shift from a single-channel telematics insurer to one that reaches drivers through several distribution paths at once.

What does the insurer cover?

Root Insurance’s core product remains auto insurance, priced mainly on how a driver actually drives. Customers can complete a multi-week “test drive” through the Root app to earn a behavior-based rate, or skip that step for an instant quote.

• auto insurance priced primarily on driving behavior, tracked through a test-drive period in the Root app
• an instant-quote option for drivers who prefer coverage without the test-drive period
• renters insurance, offered in nine states
• roadside assistance for auto policyholders
• an independent-agent program that lets appointed agents quote and bind policies directly

Together, these options let Root reach drivers who want to prove their habits through the app, as well as those who go through an agent or a partner brand instead.

Root Insurance in the market

The carrier competes in auto insurance largely through partnerships rather than mass-market advertising alone. It has linked its quoting technology to platforms including Carvana, Hyundai Capital America, Kikoff, Jerry, and Hugo.

These partnerships embed coverage into car buying, financing, and other everyday apps. The company said it had collected more than 36 billion miles of driving data by early 2026, the foundation of its pricing models.

Root Insurance continues to lean on that data as it expands state by state and adds new distribution partners. To see the latest news about the company, check out the news section below.