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Sompo Japan starts offering the industry's first "12hours-based automobile insurance", "Noru Pita!"
— Accident coverage for drivers on a borrowed car —
Sompo Japan Insurance has developed “Noru Pita!,” an automobile insurance product that can be taken out in 12-hour units, and started providing this product in January 2019. In Japan over the past few years, the automobile-ownership rate among young people has been decreasing. In addition, the portion of young people to the entire population has been declining as well, due to low birth-rates.
In this environment, the company has recognized insurance needs among young people who do not own a car, that is the needs for temporal insurance-protection during their occasional driving. For example, these young people may need such insurance protection when they return to their parent’s home and borrow their parents' car for driving, or when they take turns driving in a road trip with their friend's car. Sompo Japan Insurance has developed automobile insurance that can be purchased in 12-hour units through a simple online application process. This marks the first time that a P&C insurance company has provided automobile insurance that customers can sign up for in units of 12 hours.
An Industry First!—Launch of Insurance Claim Service Using LINE–
Insurance claims service using LINE –Completing the entire process from insurance claims to payment procedures in as little as 30 minutes—
In October 2018, Sompo Japan started providing an insurance claims service using the LINE communication app. This service allows customers to complete the entire process from reporting an accident to making an insurance claim via LINE—the first service of its kind in the insurance industry (patent pending). Customers can now report accidents and other incidents via LINE 24-hours a day, 365 days a year, and can easily send information needed to make an insurance claim (photos of damage and videos, etc.) to Sompo Japan via LINE’s chat function. The time required to complete the processing of an automobile insurance claim can be reduced to as little as 30 minutes, compared with two to three weeks previously. Besides insurance claims procedures, Sompo Japan will explore new services that use LINE’s chat system to enroll customers in insurance, provide information to customers and perform other tasks.
Began Providing LINE Insurance: An Insurance Service Easily Accessible Whenever Needed, Via LINE
LINE Financial Corporation and Sompo Japan have formed a business alliance in the P&C insurance field. Under this alliance, the two companies have jointly launched LINE Insurance, a new insurance service that can easily reach out to and fulfill user needs with a user interface and user experience featuring simplicity and high usability. This service enables customers to sign up for insurance whenever needed, at their convenience, from the LINE app. It features a speedy registration process that enables customers to sign up for insurance in as little as 60 seconds when user registration has been completed. This highly convenient and user-friendly insurance enrollment process has proven highly popular. In addition, Mysurance, a subsidiary of Sompo Japan that conducts a small amount and short term insurance business, has launched Okuru Hoken Jishin no Omamori, an insurance product that can be sent as a gift via the LINE chat function.
Initiatives to Realize a Safe and Secure Automated Driving Society
In September 2018, Sompo Japan opened the Connected Support Center, a comprehensive support and research facility providing remote surveillance of and steering intervention for unmanned self-driving vehicles, and supporting related traffic accidents and other incidents. Through participation in various automated driving verification tests, Sompo Japan will conduct research of our new roles that P&C insurance companies should fulfill in the automated driving society. Moreover, in February 2019, Sompo Japan formed a business alliance with a company with advanced technologies related to automated driving. Through this alliance, Sompo Japan is developing a wide range of support services. When local governments and transportation companies introduce new automated driving services, these services will encompass not only insurance coverage in the event of an accident, but also safety verification of driving routes (accident prevention) and the monitoring of reliable driving (surveillance).
Sompo Japan will continue to push ahead with research and development activities in order to realize a safe and reliable automated driving society, along with seeking to evolve our current role as a “P&C insurance company that prepares for accidents” to our future role as a “P&C insurance company that prevents accidents.”
Number of Companies Using Smiling Road Surpasses 1,000 and Number of Cars Equipped Smiling Road Surpasses 53,000
The cumulative number of companies using Smiling Road, an enterprise service for safe driving support offered by Sompo Japan, has surpassed 1,400, and the cumulative number of vehicles using the service has exceeded 53,000 (as of March 2019).
Using IOT-related technology, Smiling Road steadily enhances drivers’ self-motivated and sustained awareness of driving safety and helps fleet managers provide guidance efficiently. The cumulative number of accidents at all companies using this service has decreased by roughly 20% in the first year of service use. In December 2018, a function to encourage drivers to comply with all traffic rules was added to the service.
Going forward, Sompo Japan will continue to provide services that harness advanced technologies, big data unique to insurance companies, and feedback from customers, in order to help realize a safe and secure society.
Creation of Earthquake Risk Coverage for Business Master Plus, a Comprehensive Business Activity Insurance for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Insurance coverage needs for earthquake and tsunami risks have been increasing among companies based on their need to ensure business continuity planning (BCP) and other priorities. In this environment, Sompo Japan has developed the Earthquake Risk Coverage as a new endorsement for the Business Master Plus comprehensive business activity insurance, its mainstay product for small and medium-sized enterprises. The endorsement will cover damage to property covered by the insurance policy (facilities and fixtures, and merchandise), caused by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, as well as tsunamis generated by those natural events. The premiums are calculated in accordance with the occupancy, turnover and the location of the policyholder, and there is no need to confirm factors such as structure grade of the building, the year of construction, and the value of the property covered by insurance, as with existing fire insurance. By offering this product, Sompo Japan will strive to promote even wider adoption of earthquake coverage for companies, thereby helping to improve the ability of companies to respond to earthquake and tsunami disasters.
An Industry First!—Start of Sales of Oyako No Chikara, Insurance that Helps People to Avoid Leaving Their Jobs to Care for Family Members
On October 1, 2018, Sompo Japan began sales of Oyako No Chikara, a voluntary group insurance product. In the past few years, the annual number of people who have had to leave their jobs to care for aging parents has reached 100,000. The economic burden imposed on individuals who leave their jobs and the losses suffered by the companies that employed them have become major issues. Indeed, the need for people to leave their jobs to care for parents has become a major social issue for Japan. To help solve this social issue, Sompo Japan developed Oyako No Chikara, the insurance industry’s first insurance product designed to help working adult children who care for their parents to balance their work and nursing care responsibilities.
This product achieves the integrated delivery of nursing care services and insurance protection by allowing the adult child, who is the policyholder, to efficiently utilize nursing care services for his or her parents, while receiving insurance protection to cover the parents’ nursing care costs he or she has incurred.
