Shefi Ben-Hutta
Editor at Coverager

Our 10 most-read stories of 2024

#10 – GEICO’s latest agency appointment

According to the California and Texas Departments of Insurance, GEICO appointed Polly as an agency partner in August 2024. The appointed entity, GEICO Texas County Mutual Insurance Company, serves as a personal and commercial lines writer.

#9 – Amazon is shutting down its insurance venture

In January, we reported that Amazon is discontinuing its UK-based Insurance Store, launched in 2022 to sell home insurance, after adding several partners to its initial lineup. The decision leaves existing policyholders unaffected.

This follows last year’s exit by QuickBooks Insurance, which was also discontinued.

#8 – Insurtech Branch conducts another round of layoffs

After laying off 186 employees in June 2023, Branch conducted another round of layoffs impacting 85 employees earlier this year.

Branch Insurance Exchange, the reciprocal managed by Branch, reported Q3 2024 results with $54 million in written premiums, a 58% decline from the same period last year. The reciprocal also recorded a net underwriting loss of $50.7 million for the first nine months of 2024, compared to a $70.6 million loss during the same period in 2023, leaving its future uncertain.

#7 – CEO Jason Liu is out of Zywave

Jason Liu exited Zywave this year amid concerns over financial performance and challenges integrating multiple acquisitions. The company remains involved in a $10 million legal dispute over its 2021 ClarionDoor acquisition, suing Travelers for failing to cover damages linked to misrepresentations from the acquisition. As of October 24, 2024, an informal discovery conference was held, with a jury trial scheduled for August 4, 2025.

#6 – Mike Fiato to join Allstate as chief claims officer

Allstate appointed Mike Fiato as Chief Claims Officer, effective January 2024, bringing over 30 years of experience to oversee its claims operations, which handle over 6.5 million claims annually.

Separately, Avail Carsharing, Allstate’s peer-to-peer car-sharing startup launched in 2018, ceased operations in Chicago and Denver as of July 16, 2024.

On the investment front, Allstate Strategic Ventures backed three companies in 2024:

  • VISO TRUST (Cybersecurity): $7M, November 2024
  • Owl Data Solutions (Information Services): $7M, November 2024
  • Kinetic Automation (Automotive): $21M, June 2024

#5 – GEICO ends 2023 with a profit

GEICO reported a $3.6 billion pre-tax underwriting gain in 2023, reversing its $1.88 billion loss in 2022.

#4 – Hari Govind is out of GEICO

In October, Hari Govind left GEICO to pursue other opportunities after serving as Chief Information and Technology Officer (CITO) since February 2023.

A Reddit thread discussing his departure highlighted employee frustrations, including layoffs and increased workloads for remaining staff. Speculation about his abrupt exit ranged from internal issues to criticisms of his leadership style. Frequent leadership changes at GEICO, with each CTO introducing new strategies, were also cited as a source of instability.

Vijay Raghavendra has since been named as his replacement.

#3 – Tesla Insurance ends 2023 with nearly $500M in written premiums

Tesla Insurance closed 2023 with $497 million in written premiums, a 115% increase from the previous year. Of this, $387 million came from Tesla Insurance Services, operating in California, Ohio, Arizona, and Illinois through a partnership with State National, making it their largest producer.

Tesla also uses its own carriers, Tesla Property & Casualty and Tesla General Insurance, with premiums rising significantly in states like Texas ($52.9 million) and Virginia ($13 million) as availability expanded. Overall, premiums in these states grew from $12.7 million in 2022 to $109.9 million in 2023.

Despite growth, Tesla’s underwriting losses totaled $30 million in 2023. Tesla General Insurance, active in Nevada, Oregon, and Virginia, had a combined ratio of 145%, while Tesla Property & Casualty, operating in Colorado, Maryland, and other states, recorded at 139.4% ratio.

In Q3 2024, Tesla Insurance Company began writing policies in California, reporting $45 million in premiums but incurring a $14 million net underwriting loss. Previously, Tesla provided coverage in California and other states through State National, which reported $387 million in Tesla-generated premiums for 2023.

Tesla is currently hiring Insurance Service Representatives in Nevada, Texas, and Utah.

#2 – Lula’s AI gamble

LULA pivoted from its $60 million-backed insurance API platform to an agent-facing generative AI company, now branded as GAIL.

The company blames AssuredPartners for its business failure and filed a lawsuit on June 24, 2024, in Florida, alleging misrepresentation of an insurance program that cost LULA over $30 million in premiums and $20 million in customer losses. The switch to the Oxford Program left LULA financially responsible for claims, resulting in over $4.5 million in liabilities by December 2022 and forcing the company to shut down product lines.

The lawsuit remains open, with a jury trial set for April 20, 2026. LULA has rebranded as MeetGAIL.com, focusing on its AI product, GAIL.

#1 – Prudential shuts down Assurance IQ

Prudential has decided to shut down Assurance IQ, the company acquired it in 2019 for $2.35 billion.

Since the acquisition, Assurance IQ reported losses for twelve consecutive quarters, totaling $381 million. While it turned to profit in Q4 2022, Prudential stopped disclosing its performance the following quarter. During this time, Prudential also recorded multiple goodwill impairment charges due to a “decline in the fair value of Assurance IQ.”