
Cover (YC W16) Helps You Insure Anything with the Snap of a Photo - kevin
https://blog.ycombinator.com/cover-yc-w16-helps-you-insure-anything-with-the-snap-of-a-photo
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Smudge
I used to share office space with a different Cover (paywithcover.com), and
they were occasionally confused for any one of several other Cover brands
(coverscreen.com, madewithcover.com, readcover.com, etc). Seems like the
"Cover" space is a little tricky for that reason.

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ksar
This is true. Although, we do like the name alot in the insurance context.

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ksar
We’re working on a property and casualty insurance product built from first
principles on mobile for millennials. Our product takes in a picture of
property you want to insure, and connects you with a network of brokerages
across the US & Canada to fulfill the requests. Soon we’ll be binding
insurance ourselves.

Depending on the geography, 80-90% of all insurance transactions end up
getting bound over the phone, it only makes sense that they start there.

Happy to take any questions. Thanks y’all!

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roymurdock
1\. Assuming you get a cut from your insurance company partners, wouldn't your
incentives be aligned towards displaying higher priced insurance plans?

2\. What kinds of things do millenials tend to insure other than cars and
health? I, like most of my friends, don't own very much else worth insuring.
If it wasn't mandated by law, I probably wouldn't insure either - it's
basically a tax on the majority of young, healthy, white collar workers.

3\. As a young person, cost of insurance is my primary concern. How does the
tech help you compete on price with large, nationwide insurance companies with
huge, diversified pools of clients? By targeting only millenials are you able
to weed out high-risk, high-cost clients and bring the overall premiums down?
Is that even legal? If so, I would be very interested in joining.

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msabalau
I can see why a young person might want to gamble with health insurance. It's
harder to understand how car insurance could be characterized a tax on the
young and healthy.

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roymurdock
Teens and senior citizens are the most dangerous drivers due to lack of
experience and declining motor skills, hand eye coordination, etc.,
respectively. Plus, there are some drivers on the road without insurance. So
all decent/low mileage drivers subsidize these groups, to an extent.

But you're right, it is unfair to characterize auto insurance as a tax. It's
more akin to a mandatory expense that should be factored into the price of
owning a car and operating it on shared roads along with people of all driving
skill levels.

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codingdave
Sounds good if I did not already have insurance. But I do have insurance.
Multiple policies, some of which are practically free after the multi-policy
discounts you get when working with a single broker. And my broker is local,
easy to deal with, will drop by if I need him.

I do like the ease of adding a new big ticket item via mobile, but I don't
need the middleman, and don't want competing offers from a network of brokers.

Maybe I'm just not the target market. But I suspect there are more people like
me who would get a better deal with my current broker vs. a new policy on a
single item with a new broker.

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ksar
Multi-line discounts are a key selling point of going with one carrier,
something a good independent broker should arrange for you.

As an insurance customer, you have the right to switch agent representation at
no cost to you (generally). What other value-added services do you think your
local broker could offer outside of accommodating the occasional drop-in? What
would compel you to switch brokers?

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codingdave
I'm not sure there is much that would compel me to change... Finding a broker
is a question most people solve when they first start needing insurance. The
only reason to switch would be a breakdown of my current broker. It just isn't
something I shop for... the problem is solved acceptably in the status quo.

Which is a bit of a problem for this idea... you aren't solving a problem...
just adding a new flavor to existing solutions.

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h1srf
> Cover connects you with an insurance brokerage in your area best suited to
> insuring that piece of property.

I want to send you a picture, you quote me a price and I pay. If I have to
talk to someone else, you've totally lost my interest - I can go talk to an
insurance broker myself.

Side question: How many penis pictures have you gotten?

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adhil
One so far. Funny story, he gave his real phone number, real driver's license,
took a picture of penis and then took a picture of his laptop for insurance.

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mathattack
Great idea. Using mobile to reduce friction and risk will dramatically grow
the insurance market.

