(Parthenon, Centennial Park, Nashville. Image credit: Paul Brennan.)
Buckle, a Jersey City, N.J.-based tech-enabled financial services company, has launched its rideshare-only auto insurance in Tennessee. The company launched last year, providing rideshare and Transportation Network Company (TNC) drivers with personal and commercial coverage in one, affordable policy to eligible rideshare drivers in Georgia.
Sharon Fernandez, Head of Insurance, Buckle.
“Buckle is giving gig rideshare drivers long deserved peace of mind by making affordable auto coverage, whether on or off the clock, easily accessible in one comprehensive policy,” said Sharon Fernandez, Head of Insurance at Buckle. “Previously, rideshare drivers were left with few options to stay protected on the road, but Buckle Insurance has been well received since our initial launch, insuring gig drivers throughout Georgia, and we are positioned to rapidly expand in Q1 of this year.”
Buckle has responded to the market demand of the rapidly expanding U.S. gig workforce, which has created challenges for the insurance industry since these workers do not meet the underwriting models used by most insurance companies–salaried employees with good credit who have predictable incomes and behaviors. The difficulty in underwriting an insurance policy for gig drivers based on traditional credit scoring leaves them with only high premium. Buckle says that its auto insurance products use non-traditional data sources available on gig workers that traditional insurers do not have access to, including driving track records, crowdsourced from thousands of trips. Buckle says this allows it to provide affordable auto insurance to this new risk class that falls in-between non-prime and deep sub-prime.
Buckle Names Sharon Fernandez Head of Insurance | Insurance Innovation Reporter (iireporter.com)