Mobile apps like Uber and Airbnb have completely changed consumers’ expectations of the way services are delivered. Above all, people prize simplicity, convenience and affordability, no matter if it’s getting a ride, booking a hotel, purchasing car insurance or even just paying for gas.
That desire for simple experiences has only accelerated with the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting car insurance app Jerry to target further niches and riches. Its goal is to become a one-stop-shop where consumers can pay for everything that’s needed to keep their vehicles on the road.
“We’re building a super app for car owners to help them with all their car expenses,” Jerry Co-founder and Chief Executive Art Agrawal told PYMNTS in an interview. “We want consumers to feel as if they have a friend in their pocket who’s going to go above and beyond to help them save some money.”
New Funding And Focus
Jerry made its name with its car insurance app, which can get drivers a quote from more than 50 brand-name carriers in less than a minute. Now, armed with $75 million in funding from a Series C round, Jerry is looking to provide similar services in everything from vehicle loans and repairs to maintenance and parking.
Read more: Jerry AI Insurance App Valued At $450M After $75M Series C
While it seems like everyone wants to join the “super app” club these days, Agrawal insists that the whole area of car expenses is screaming out for greater simplicity. People spend an awful lot of money on their cars, he said — often far more than they realize.
“The bottom 90 percent of earners pay around 20 percent of their income on owning cars, including maintenance and repairs, insurance, loan repayments, gas and parking,” Agrawal said. “There’s just such a huge market in terms of how much money people spend on their car expenses. You know, if you get a parking ticket then you have to pay, and then there’s gas, and charging fees, and all these little things you don’t realize.”
There’s a very real value proposition, Agrawal noted, calling attention to how cumbersome it is to shop for car insurance today. “You typically go to different sites, fill out a bunch of forms and then get all of these people calling you,” he said. “We’ve completely turned that model around. So instead of you doing it, we go and shop for your car insurance every six months.”
Further reading: Insurance App Ranking: Titans And Upstarts Vie For Consumer Love
Keeping It Simple
Agrawal explained that Jerry automates the entire process by using machine learning and robotic process automation bots. Customers simply provide their personal details once when they first sign up, and never again.
“You never have to think about it,” he said. “There’s no one calling you, you don’t have to call anyone, you complete the whole transaction in the app, and we can even cancel your existing policy and save you money. It’s saving you money in the easiest possible form.”
It’s a value proposition that has helped Jerry rapidly gain ground in PYMNTS’ Provider Ranking of Insurance Apps, where it now sits in a respectable fourth place overall.
The ease and simplicity Jerry affords is in big demand. The company saw its revenue grow by ten times in 2020, even as COVID-19 meant most people were driving their cars less than before. Agrawal said people haven’t stopped shopping for car insurance due to the pandemic. If anything, COVID has made people even more enthusiastic about it, putting the company on course to triple its revenue this year.
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“If you’re driving less, you have another reason to shop for car insurance, because you’re sitting there thinking, ‘why am I paying $100 or $200 per month when I’m doing less driving?’” said Agrawal.
Jerry’s next test is to bring the same simple approach to shopping for car insurance to the auto loan industry, where it’s planning its next product launch. And if that goes well, it will look at other verticals like repairs, maintenance and even parking.
“You can go on Amazon and have anything you need delivered to you in two days with just a click,” Agrawal said. “That hasn’t happened in car insurance and other categories. So that’s what we’re trying to do with this technology.”
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