Weeks after an executive announced that Google Compare was involve agents in its online comparison tool for auto insurance, the multinational company unveiled a partnership with a rating system popularly used by agents.
Google Compare will now use TurboRater, a rating system provided by Insurance Technologies Corp. and a popular system among agents. TurboRater will provide auto insurance quotes to consumers through TurboRater as a “B-to-B quoting engine,” according to
ITC President Laird Rixford.
Through the partnership, Google Compare will gain access to carriers that don’t engage in direct selling – assisting more than 6,000 agents affiliated with 200 insurance companies to compete against major direct writers like
GEICO or
Allstate.
The TurboRater platform allows agents and their customers to input basic information and receive insurance quotes from between 50 and 75 carriers on average.
“Now when comparing insurers, you’ll have the ability to buy online or call a local agent to get help with your policy,” said Stephanie Cuthbertson, group product manager for Google Compare.
Rixford said that Google has been courting ITC and TurboRater for about a year, interested in its history and access to more than 200 carriers. Through the partnership, Rixford says agents remain an integral piece of the insurance distribution system.
“The independent agent channel is not going to go away, but the Internet is here and it’s here to stay,” he said.
Google Compare was launched in March and began operations in California. Since then, Cuthbertson said “millions” have used the site to shop for auto insurance and roughly half of shoppers say they have found cheaper rates than they pay with their current policy.
Fresh from that success, the company is planning to expand into Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Some skeptics worry that the tech company may have an ulterior motive for Google Compare, such as obtaining detailed information from drivers, which can then be used to advance its own insurance initiatives.
“If you think about what’s going on with self-driving cars in the future, Google is really going to have to understand how insurance companies price risk because the whole model is going to change,” Forrester analyst Ellen Carney told
TechCrunch. “And I imagine that some component of insurance is going to be included with the car.”
The site also announced that it is planning to incorporate a mortgage component to Google Compare.