Trōv – an entirely new way to insure the things people treasure

By Rick Huckstep

The future for personal lines insurance is all about “engagement”. When insurance becomes a lifestyle choice, then consumer perception will change. And so will their behaviour  This week I get an exclusive sneak peek at Silicon Valley based Trōv and their platform that will change the game for insurance.

The concept is a simple one, the best one’s always are! 

We all own stuff that is important to us. Things that we value. Items we want to protect from damage, loss or theft. Possessions that are important to us because we have decided that they are. 

And with this stuff comes a heightened sense of protection towards them. We handle them with care. We look after them. We take care of them. We protect them. 

But sometimes, bad things happen and our possessions are damaged, lost or stolen. This is why we take insurance… to give us protection when bad things happen to our stuff.

But the problem is that consumers don’t think about insurance in this way. And we all know why – consumers don’t trust insurance and they don’t value it either (until it’s too late).

Which means that the successful insurance companies are going to be those that create an ongoing engagement with their customers, and to do that, they have to engage with their lifestyle.

A few weeks back I covered what I call “engagement insurance”, and it is relevant here, to this week's feature. 

Let’s talk about Trōv

Trov was founded around 3 years ago by Scott Walchek, who is no stranger to launching successful tech startups, raising money and the whole Silicon Valley thing. 

Scott explained the genesis of Trōv, “there’s enormous value latent in the information about the things people own. That value isn’t being tapped by individuals because it’s hard to collect it. By reducing the friction around collecting the information, and giving people agency over it – we can curate really powerful ways for them to benefit from it.

“The first big opportunity to emerge is a new way to insure. On-demand protection for just those few things people care about – for as long as they’d like.”

Trōv is a lifestyle app that collects data about your things, builds it into a list, then provides machine enhanced risk pricing for single item coverage. Trōv provides micro-duration policies (down to the second), charges micro-premiums (down to the cent) and uses chat robots to manage claims. 

This is an entirely dis-intermediated experience through a smartphone app.

How does it work?

The key is that Trōv is both a data collection app and a digital insurance platform all rolled into one. And it starts with the way that the platform makes it easy to collect information about your stuff.  

To see for myself, I signed up to the beta trial in the UK. I downloaded the app, signed in through FaceBook and Trōv immediately added my iPhone to start my personal inventory. In the process it pick up the model, size and calculated its replacement value.  

The automated approach to data collection is fundamental to making Trōv a convenient and effortless experience. For example, when a purchase receipt hits your inbox, Trov reads it, identifies the purchase and places the purchased item straight into your inventory with a product description (and eventually it will automatically add the cost of insurance).

Next to come after reading the Inbox will be scanning barcodes, using metadata, or taking a feed from services such as Zoopla. These are just some of the ways to get data in.

Streaming insurance on and off at will

There was a time when we all bought music albums. Then iTunes came along and introduced the ability to buy a single song. Then Spotify introduced streaming and now we just pay to listen to the music when we want, where we want.

Imagine the same transition for insurance!

Imagine a time when we can turn insurance on and off to suit our situation or circumstances. This is what Trōv enables the consumer to do. By providing micro-duration policies with micro-premiums priced to the second, when you want, where you want!

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been given a sneak peak at the app and what’s to come (and to say that I’m excited by what I’ve seen is an understatement!)

Trōv is the one to watch!

It is not often that I say this, but Trōv are definitely the “ones to watch!” Scott and his team have built a lifestyle app that ticks all the boxes for the millennial generation. 

And if the insurance industry is going to have any relevance to the millennials, it needs to build an insurance model that is engaging first and insurance second. Just like the Trōv team have done!

Read the full article here at www.dailyfintech.com

Daily Fintech Advisers provide strategic consulting to organizations with business and investment interests in Fintech.