A newly revamped automobile insurance comparison and recommendation service (2.0) will start on the 20th. The automobile insurance comparison and recommendation service compares products from all insurance companies and recommends the most affordable and suitable options. The first version, 1.0, required customers to cover a 3% commission fee when subscribing to a product, but in version 2.0, the insurance company will bear this cost. There is no longer any hassle of revisiting the insurance company's website to sign up after using the service, as the products and premiums sold on each insurance company's homepage (CM) have become identical. The inconvenience of customers manually entering vehicle information has also been improved.
According to the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service on the 19th, Naver Pay and Toss will provide the 2.0 service starting at midnight on the 20th. InsurTech company Habit Factory will launch it by the end of this month, and Kakao Pay is expected to release it in the second half of this year. Customers whose automobile insurance expires on April 19 will be able to subscribe to products through the 2.0 service.
The biggest feature of the 2.0 service is the insurance premium. In the 1.0 service, a 3% commission that arises when subscribing to a product was included in the insurance premium, which customers had to bear. If a customer could sign up for 1 million won on each insurance company’s homepage, it meant subscribing for 1.03 million won in the 1.0 service. This structure faced criticism for being inconsistent with the service's purpose of recommending the most affordable products.
As a result, customers compared which products were the cheapest on the platform before visiting the insurance company’s website to subscribe individually. From the launch of the 1.0 service in January of last year until February of this year, about 1,486,000 customers utilized the service, but only approximately 140,000 contracts were actually concluded.
In response, the financial authorities lowered the commission rate from the previous 3% to 1.5%, placing the burden of the commission on the insurance company rather than the customer. This enables comparisons and recommendations at the same premium as those on the insurance company’s homepage (CM).
The service has also become more sophisticated. The 1.0 service required customers to manually input specific information, such as vehicle details and contract expiration dates. If the information entered was incorrect, accurate comparisons and recommendations could not be made. In contrast, the 2.0 service automatically fills in the contract expiration date and vehicle information, and additional discounts for special provisions can also be reflected.
The financial authorities stated, "To compare and recommend products more suitable for consumers, accurate calculation of insurance premiums is of utmost importance. We will continue to enhance the accuracy of premium calculations through service development and cooperation on information provision," and noted, "We plan to closely monitor the operational results, market impact, and consumer protection during the operating period of the innovative financial services."