News & Insights

Polly Buy Online: 2X Faster Auto Insurance to Car Shoppers

Written by Polly | Mar 14, 2024 6:59:24 PM

With Polly Buy Online, car buyers can shop for insurance when it’s most convenient for them.

What Is It?

Polly Buy Online allows car buyers to purchase and bind a policy completely online through the Polly App or one of our carrier partners.

Why Should You Care? 

We have partnered with major insurance carriers such as Progressive, Travelers, and Safeco to offer buy online options, that can improve customer experience. Car buyers can now obtain highly personalized insurance quotes through our software, and purchase a policy online in just five minutes or less, directly from their mobile device.  

Buy online:

  • Speeds up the insurance buying process by as much as 2x in the dealership by offering a faster, more convenient way to purchase insurance, 
  • Offers choice to your customers who may not want to speak to an agent. 
  • Is available after call center hours, whenever your customers need it – 24/7/365. 
  • Plus, you get the same referral dollars.

Why Should Shoppers Buy Online?

Having the option to purchase an insurance policy entirely online is about convenience and choice. 

It gives buyers the ability to navigate the buying process in a way that works best for them. 

What It Means to Car Buyers: Insurance Is Always Available, 24/7

Here’s a common scenario: It’s the last deal of the day and your buyer needs insurance before they can drive off the lot, but it’s after call center hours.  

Why let that be a deal killer? 

With Polly Buy Online, dealership customers can purchase a policy that suits their needs any day or night. 

Convenience, Convenience… Did We Say Convenience?

While Polly continues to maintain our robust agent call center, a growing segment of customers want to buy online, without the need to speak with an insurance agent.  

Many younger car buyers, in particular, want to make their purchases without talking to an agent. In fact, our 2024 Embedded Auto Insurance study found that 82% of Gen-Z and Millennials prefer to buy insurance using their phones.  

There’s a good reason digital retailing has been making waves in dealerships these past couple of years. So, why should insurance be any different? 

Polly Buy Online allows that to happen. 

Faster Is Better, Especially When It's Twice As Fast 

With Polly Buy Online, it’s lightning quick to purchase a policy, only taking a couple of minutes in most cases. When comparing that speed to policy against calling in to speak with an agent, we've found it to be twice as fast for car shoppers who end up purchasing a policy.

The online insurance questionnaire the shopper has to answer is more in-depth, ensuring they get an accurate and bindable quote. However, theyll save time by not having to speak to an agent. 

Here’s how to Polly 2x faster:

Every time your customers see quotes, they automatically get a text message from Polly.

Ask your customers to click the link in the text.

About two-thirds of customers will get the option to Buy Online. It’s up to them to click to buy online or speak with an agent.

That's it. Insurance options waiting at their fingertips to purchase at the moment that's right for them.

Which Carriers Are Available?  

Insurance carriers with available buy online quotes vary on a state-to-state and customer-to-customer basis. Our three partner insurance carriers that offer online quotes in Pollys insurance marketplace are: 

  • Progressive 
  • Travelers 
  • Safeco 


Which States Are Available?  

We have at a minimum one insurance carrier providing buy online quotes in 45 states, with many of those states having multiple carrier options. 

The states with buy online quotes available are: 

Alabama  

Arizona  

Arkansas 

California  

Colorado  

Connecticut  

Delaware  

Florida  

Georgia  

Idaho  

Illinois  

Indiana  

Iowa 

Kansas  

Kentucky  

Louisiana  

Maine  

Maryland  

Massachusetts  

Michigan  

Minnesota  

Mississippi  

Missouri  

Montana  

Nebraska 

Nevada  

New Hampshire  

New Jersey  

New Mexico  

New York  

North Carolina  

Ohio  

Oklahoma  

Oregon  

Pennsylvania  

Rhode Island  

South Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah  

Vermont 

Virginia  

Washington 

Wisconsin 

Wyoming 

Polly continues to work with our carriers, state regulators, and technology partners to find solutions for online purchasing options for the states not included above in the future: Alaska, District of Columbia, Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia. 

What Does the Buy Online Process Look Like? 

 Our goal is to make buying an insurance policy 100% online incredibly easy.

Heres how it works:

  1. While car buyers are shopping insurance quotes on Polly, a buy online offer will appear if available.

  2. The shopper will start a longer qualifying questionnaire to lock in their exact rate and coverage with the carrier. (Many of these questions are what an agent would typically cover with someone who calls into Polly. Because of that, this part will take a bit longer than the normal questions a customer would answer in Polly’s app.)

  3. Carriers will automatically run reports on the car buyer to dial in the right rate, including data like recent speeding tickets or accidents.

  4. The shopper will have a chance to apply for discounts, add other vehicles or drivers that need coverage, and add other policies to their bundle if applicable.

  5. If they qualify for an online policy purchase, they will be given a final policy price and be asked to pay for their new policy. Multiple payment options are available.  

  6. Last, the carrier will provide a policy number and they’ll be prompted to create an account through their new carrier’s website to access additional policy information. 

Ready to share Polly’s Buy Online capabilities? 

Login to Polly for Dealers and try it out with your next interested car buyer. 

Have more questions before giving it a shot? Reach out to our client success team, they’re ready to help.