USAA to acquire San Francisco-based insurtech company Noblr

United Services Automobile Association (USAA), a Texas-based financial services company, revealed plans to acquire Noblr, an insurtech company, to provide the latter’s usage-based insurance (UBI) to its members.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Based in San Francisco, Noblr is said to provide smart car insurance with drivers getting rewarded for good driving habits. The company’s rates are based on time of driving, quality of driving, and distance driven among others.

On the other hand, USAA is engaged in providing insurance, banking and investment, and retirement solutions to over 13 million members of the US military veterans.

The financial services company said that the UBI products provide a lower premium in addition to a mileage variable through the combination of usage and behavioral factors for creating pay-as-you-go customized pricing and opportunity for rewards and savings. USAA said that this is important for its military service members who are highly mobile and deployed frequently.

The financial services company further stated that adding a UBI product enables it to achieve its objective by catering to members with customized pricing and control over the cost of their insurance.

Wayne Peacock – USAA President and CEO said: “The acquisition of Noblr, Inc. increases our competitiveness in the marketplace and adds the choice of UBI capability for our members.

“Members will get personalized pricing that fits their risk and usage profile, better control over the cost of their auto policies and an exceptional end-to-end digital experience.

“USAA has always been an innovator, and the addition of Noblr, Inc.’s technology platform is another example of our commitment to deliver world-class service and experiences to our members.”

The company said that it intends to launch UBI across the US over the next three years, beginning with the eight states where Noblr is available currently and expanding to more states this year.

Furthermore, the acquisition is said to complement the news that SafePilot – USAA’s behavior-based insurance (BBI) program had a growth of 200% last year.

USAA to acquire San Francisco-based insurtech company Noblr. Photo courtesy of David Shankbone/Wikipedia.org.

The Noblr UBI program will be separate from SafePilot, which mainly uses behavioral data. Both the UBI and BBI programs provide incentives to drivers for examining their driving habits.

Gary Tolman – Noblr CEO and co-founder said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for the Noblr team to quickly and significantly expand the implementation of usage-based telematics to more states and to serve our military families, USAA members.

“We look forward to being a part of the USAA team as they embark on their next century.”

USAA anticipates the acquisition to be completed later this year, subject to receipt of regulatory approval.