November 21, 2023
Because of inflation and other factors, 2023 was a tough year for the insurance industry; luckily, we’re already seeing positive signs for 2024 (check out Tom Lyon’s article for more on that!).
As we look toward 2024, which is looking brighter for the insurance industry, I don’t want to miss the chance to do a little reflecting on this year, which saw a lot of positives, despite the tough environment.
What Worked
Here are just a few of the things that we were able to do for our customers this year: 
1. We worked with our existing customers to help them find savings whenever possible. While there may have been fewer options to choose from because of the hard market, I’m still proud of the way we were able to help people. We have success stories from customers who were facing down large premium increases, but who were able to save by switching carriers. Just to bring it to life, here’s one story I heard about from one of our agents: we had a customer whose carrier wasn’t renewing any business in the state in which he lived. Our agent was able to get him a new auto policy with a new carrier, and secure him a renter’s policy, and still save him over $1,500 a year.
2. We strengthened our already close relationships with our carriers. In this difficult market, it was crucial that we stayed in close contact with them and understood their needs. Our flexibility in meeting their needs ultimately benefits the customer. For instance, if there’s a state the carrier is ready for new business in, we can provide customers in that state with quotes from that carrier – with our flexible technology, we aren’t relying on a single on-off switch for each carrier, but can be much more nuanced.
3. We worked on expanding our carrier base. We already have an exceptionally robust carrier panel, but as Tom Lyons notes in his article, if we learned anything this year, it’s that the strength and depth of that panel is crucial. We should have some exciting announcements coming soon in this area; I continue to be proud of how many options we offer our customers and potential customers and look forward to offering even more.
What's Next?
So what’s on tap for Polly next year? We’re certainly looking at 2024 with optimism; while no one can know the future, we do believe that the insurance market will begin to soften.
In the meantime, we’re hard at work on our technology and integrations, making things even smoother for our customers and dealership partners. We're looking forward to the NADA conference in February, where we’ll show off some of these exciting new developments. And, as I noted above, we hope to have some new companies joining our carrier line-up soon.
I’m most proud of our focus on and dedication to our customers this year. That means both providing more options in the form of more quotes and providing exceptional customer service from the first interaction through to each renewal. In 2024, we will continue our mission to make insurance seamless, easy, and brimming with unexpected value. Here’s to a good year, and to a great one to come!