The Butler Who Serves Insurance

CA-based SafeButler says it can help every Lyft driver get the right insurance in 1 minute.

Well, that’s not quite true.

The startup, still in beta mode, shops for coverage (auto, home, landlord, renters, umbrella) on consumers’ behalf with the promise of zero spam phone calls yet an occasional flyer here and there. “Because residence address is required for accurate quoting, the insurance companies SafeButler gets the quotes from will have your residence address. They may send flyers to your mailbox. You can simply ignore them.”

In other words, SafeButler is a new initiative, where customers fill an application online to later be contacted by SafeButler with rates. Also, SafeButler says it will continuously be on the lookout for better deals. Whenever a better deal is found, the customer will be notified, and with the customer’s permission, SafeButler will monitor insurance-related life events. For example, when one welcomes a newborn, SafeButler will automatically prepare a life insurance quote. All this – in theory.

In practice, SafeButler is currently targeting Uber-slash-Lyft drivers via a UI that allows them to upload policy declaration pages, license picture, and other relevant intel that will allow SafeButler to shop for better coverage. Dashboard included. Look.

Here’s what else is known. (1) According to the CA Department of Insurance, the company is licensed to sell personal lines insurance in CA as of July 28:

(2) The startup’s address is 3300 Central Expressway Suite B, Santa Clara, CA 95051. That’s the address of Chinese-American investment network SVC Venture club. (3) The company was incorporated on May 16, 2017. (4) Agent of service is Shunsheng Wei. Bottom Line: a foreign flavor to the concept of ‘digital broker’.