Connected Device Harnesses Vehicle Data to Benefit Dealers and Their Customers
NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2019 –- Assurant (NYSE: AIZ), a global provider of risk management solutions, today announced its Global Automotive business has piloted a launch of Pocket Drive by Assurant, one of the auto industry’s first connected devices that enables dealers and their customers to benefit from the vehicle’s data and mobile connectivity.
Pocket Drive plugs into a vehicle’s OBD-II port and collects a wealth of insights and communicates them via a mobile device app. A dealer version empowers owners to modernize their operations and create a more streamlined customer experience. A consumer-based version offers customers a safer, simpler and smarter way to drive.
“We leveraged our expertise in vehicles and connected devices to offer revenue, efficiency and cost saving opportunities to dealers, while making vehicle ownership easier and safer for consumers,” said Chad Ammons, vice president of global strategy and innovation in Assurant’s Global Auto business. “Pocket Drive also can enhance customer loyalty by providing easy, one-touch access to the dealer service center as well as insights and incentives designed to decrease service attrition.”
Pocket Drive for Dealers
Dealers can generate revenue through customer sales of Pocket Drive as a standalone product or enhancement to a service contract or prepaid maintenance plan. They also can increase visits to the service center through the app’s click-to-call button that pops up in response to proactive maintenance alerts, diagnostic trouble code warnings, recalls and optional promotional offerings.
Pocket Drive can help dealers improve efficiency by streamlining operations. Staff can get vehicles into inventory more quickly with less paperwork and ready for sale sooner through faster pre-delivery inspections.
With full visibility into inventory and vehicle status, dealers shorten the sales process by locating vehicles more quickly on or off the lot, ensuring vehicles have fuel and full battery charges for test drives or loans, and making the check-in and out process faster. Assurant research shows time spent at the dealership is the second highest pain point for customers when buying a vehicle.
Dealers also can recover fuel costs from loaner and car rental programs when customers return vehicles with less gas than required, and lower insurance expenses by enabling staff to quickly document damage to newly received vehicles and file a claim with the transportation company.
Pocket Drive for Consumers
Pocket Drive enhances the driving and ownership experience for consumers through real-time alerts of vehicle health issues and incidents, roadside assistance, an optional wi-fi hotspot, maintenance reminders, a digital glove box for storing records and receipts, vehicle tracking and monitoring of driver behavior.
Users also get direct access to a U.S.–based technical support team to help get the most out of the vehicle’s technology and integrate it with other connected devices. An Assurant survey shows 73 percent of vehicle owners consider premium tech support to be extremely or very valuable when considering a connected car app.
Vehicle owners are highly positive about the other benefits of Pocket Drive as well. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents think Pocket Drive would improve the image of the dealer who offers it, and 73 percent said Pocket Drive would keep them more connected with their dealer service center. Additionally, 77 percent would find a vehicle service contract more appealing if Pocket Drive was included as part of the offering.
For more information about Pocket Drive, please click here.
About Assurant
Assurant, Inc. (NYSE: AIZ) is a global provider of risk management solutions, protecting where consumers live and the goods they buy. A Fortune 500 company, Assurant focuses on the housing and lifestyle markets, and is among the market leaders in mobile device protection and related services; extended service contracts; vehicle protection products; pre-funded funeral insurance; renters insurance; and lender-placed homeowners insurance. Assurant has a market presence in 21 countries, while its Assurant Foundation works to support and improve communities. Learn more at assurant.com or on Twitter @AssurantNews.
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