This is Why Traditional Car Insurance is Unfair (Part I)

Car insurance. Something you probably wouldn't think much about if celebrities and talking animals weren't constantly inundating your commercial breaks.

But Root Insurance Co. believes you should be thinking about it -- beyond smirking at the latest jingle. Because car insurance is needlessly complex, clumsy, and straight up unfair and you may not even realize it.
And Root is offering a solution.

The car insurance industry can (needs to) do better.

Here are some of the ways car insurance today is unfair to you, and what Root has done to fix them.

It's unfair because it's based completely on demographics.
The old way: Until recently, there's been no way to give you a rate based on what really matters: how you drive. So insurance companies took their best guesses based on your category: your occupation, marital status, education level, and credit score.

They put you in a box and your box determines your price.

This approach is outdated and often deeply unjust.

Who deserves to be rated based on their neighbor's accidents? Did your brother suddenly become a better driver the day he got married?

Demographics are helpful in their proper place, but relying only on a customer's category to price insurance is unfair, unnecessary, and leaves a lot of people out in the cold.

The Root way: Root's fixing an unfair insurance industry by rating drivers based on how they actually drive. And they're using the latest technology to do it. If you're married, great. Single? Awesome. The main thing that matters is what you do when rubber meets the road.

It's unfair because it's still stuck in old tech.
The old way: You probably aren't surprised to hear that when it comes to innovation and technology, insurance companies are way, way behind. Like every other industry, they've had their chances to invest in engineering and upgraded technology over the past few decades. But they've largely said no.

The price? An inability to move quickly or innovate into new technologies. Traditional insurers are patching new solutions onto outdated systems-and that only works for so long.

Compounding the problem is a resistance to new ideas. And here's the thing: it's not because insurance companies don't want to innovate, it's that innovation comes with too much risk.

The Root model -- only insuring good drivers -- would be terrifying to a traditional insurer. They're in a marketing arms race with each other and can't afford to lose customers. They've become too big to take leaps.

As a result, you get a clumsy, dated experience and a poorly designed product.

The Root way: Root is synonymous with technology and innovation. They don't fill their desks with agents. They fill them with engineers creating new technologies that will continue to innovate and improve the industry. And that means a better and more fair experience for you.

The good news? It's 2018. None of these problems need to exist. Root has the technology and the knowledge to make car insurance better-to make it fair to you and deliver a fantastic product.

Download the app and get started now.

Sponsored content.

This story is part of our special report: "Fair Car Insurance sponsored by Root". Want to read more? Here's the full list.