Aside from setting up your insurance policy, you’re more likely to need your insurance company when you’re away from a computer or your home. Recognizing an increasingly mobile public, Progressive Insurance has launched an app that allows customers to perform all interactions with their insurer via their mobile phone.
There are over 230 million mobile device users in the United States – that’s more than one per household = and by 2014 mobile internet users will overtake laptop and desktop computer internet users. This shows an increasing trend for people to prefer using their mobile phone to get things done, if at all possible.
The app is available for iPhone and Android phones (and iPads) and allows customers to do just about anything they would normally need to do with their insurance company on their phone. Of course, this only applies to Progressive customers, but we’re sure others will follow suit.
VIN Scanning
Not only does the app function like an entire insurance company website, but it also boasts one extra nifty feature. If you want an insurance quote for a vehicle, you simply take a photo of the car’s Vehicle Identification Number and send it in. You’ll receive a quote within minutes, and the app allows you to compare up to three different vehicles in a single quote.
Submit Scans At The Scene
With the Progressive app, customers no longer have to wait for a claims inspector to show up to take photos of your vehicle. Users can simply begin the claims process and take photographs of the damage with their phone to upload using the app. Whether damage would need to be further inspected would be at the discretion of the insurer.
The app also contains a handful of other useful features that allow you to accomplish things that, five years ago, you would have had to phone your insurer to get done. These include allowing you to make payments instantly using your mobile device, get emergency roadside assistance, locate a Progressive-approved service center, or find a local insurance agent if you need to speak to someone in person.
Progressive Reaching Out to Mobile Users
Alongside their award winning app, Progressive has also launched two other free apps on the Apple App Store and Android Marketplace. “We’re continuing to enhance the distinctive mobile products we offer in order to make it easier for our customers to do business with us,” said Matt Lehman, Progressive’s mobile business leader. “Our mobile and interconnected world gives us the opportunity to add more value to drivers, wherever they are. This commitment to using technology to give customers more control over their car insurance is what sets Progressive apart.”
The two other apps include a collection of images and wallpapers collected by Progressive, and a weird little app that lets you hear all of their mascot, Flo’s, witticisms and inane comments whenever you want. Reviewers are not sure why anyone would want this app, but it shows that the company is trying new things to reach out to mobile users.