Series B Funding Will Fund Continued Development of Automotive Retail’s Leading Insurance Marketplace
On two occasions earlier this year, Agency Checklists reported about DealerPolicy, a Vermont-based insurance marketplace for automotive retail. The first time was when it announced its partnership with J.D. Power to create personalized auto insurance quotes to car buyers. The second articles was published after it announced its acquisition of Granite State Insurance.
After a year of growth in 2020, it seems that DealerPolicy will be generating more news in 2021. This month, the insurance marketplace for automotive retail announced that it has raised $30 million in Series B funding led by 3L Capital and Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd. – doing its re/insurance business as HSCM Bermuda Management Company. The funding will allow the company to accelerate its development of its market-leading insurance platform as well as to expand its team.
“As car buying continues to evolve with the world around us, dealers are prioritizing fully digital, streamlined and connected experiences. Modern insurance solutions such as DealerPolicy’s FastPass™, dovetail nicely into the process and give car-buyers the value and convenience they’ve come to expect,” says Travis Fitzgerald, CEO of DealerPolicy. “DealerPolicy has conducted extensive research into car-buyer sentiments, including access to insurance as part of the process. The results are undeniable – nearly 8 out of 10 shoppers believe that comparing insurance at the point of sale during the car-buying process substantially improves the experience. With an ever-expanding value proposition to dealers, insurance carriers and customers, we are prepared to continue investing in growth.”
Also announced two key hires to help drive growth
As part of the company’s funding news, the company also welcomed two new executives to its team: Wayne Pastore was named as President and Chief Operating Officer, while Tara Kasica was appointed Senior Vice President of Sales.
“I admire the early success the DealerPolicy team has had and the meaningful value its platform provides for both shoppers and dealers,” says Pastore, who previously served as Vice President and General Manager of Dealer.com. Pastore also held numerous leadership positions throughout Cox Automotive and DealerTrack. “With the shopper’s continued desire to complete more of the purchasing experience digitally, I look forward to leveraging my experience to help accelerate the company’s growth as dealers continue to demand fully integrated and digital retailing services.”
As for Ms. Kasica, she joins the company bringing her leadership experience from one of the country’s top P&C insurers.
“Spending much of my career in various insurance and automotive leadership roles, I immediately recognized the value of DealerPolicy’s offering to the market, and dealerships in particular,” says Kasica, who joins the company from Allstate, where she was responsible for overseeing countrywide deployment, production, retention, and growth of dealership owned insurance agencies. “I am thrilled to be joining this incredible team and to use my experience at the intersection of P&C insurance and automotive retail to further support the company’s expansion plans.
An independent agency that built an insurance platform
DealerPolicy is an interesting case of an independent insurance agency that has transformed itself into an “integrated insurance solution to the automotive retail industry.” The company, founded in 2016, also owns DealerPolicy Insurance, its wholly-owned insurance agency. Together the platform is able to offer its network of 800 dealers both automotive and insurance options, creating a seamless integration of insurance into the car-buying process.
According to its latest results, the company states that: “[I]t has provided $13 million dollars in annualized insurance savings and over $60 million in increased buying power for its customers. DealerPolicy Insurance customers who save get an average of $64 per month back into their budget, which is often reinvested into other vehicle protection products offered by the dealer. For that reason, dealers in the DealerPolicy network report an average increase of 34 percent in back-end gross profit.”
