Metromile, a pay-per-mile auto insurer, is teaming with a major auto company to provide car insurance to owners of some of its vehicles. Dovetail, a digital MGA in the small commercial insurance market, rolled out a next-generation platform for independent agents in the U.S.

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Pay-per-mile auto insurer Metromile said it is teaming with Ford Motor Co. to provide personalized car insurance for owners of the auto company’s vehicles with connectivity technology.

Ford is Metromile’s first agreement with a major manufacturer and Metromile said its models are the most popular domestic make among its insureds.

Metromile uses telematics across all of its policies. Through artificial intelligence it provides real-time, sensor-based pricing based on more than 3 billion miles of driving.

Owners of eligible Ford vehicles with built-in connectivity will be able to opt in and connect their vehicle to Metromile. The insurance company will then count any miles driven directly from the vehicle’s odometer without any additional equipment.

Currently, Metromile customers who don’t have factory-fitted connectivity in their vehicle, connect the Pulse device, a small wireless device, to their vehicle’s onboard diagnostic port.

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Dovetail, a digital MGA in the small commercial insurance market, rolled out Dovetail for Agents, a next-generation quote, bind, and issue platform for independent agents in the U.S.

Dovetail is part of Victor Insurance Holdings, a global managing general underwriter.

Dovetail launched what it bills as one of the first multi-carrier, multi-product technology platforms for the independent agent channel in 2006, with an eye on small business clients. The company said that Dovetail for Agents builds on those earlier efforts by providing agents a new intuitive user interface, real-time quotes, end-to-end quote, bind, and policy issuance, and access to top insurance carriers. The new platform is also API-enabled and it relies on Marsh’s Bluestream cloud-based technology, which Dovetail said will make it easy for carriers to add products.

AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. is the first carrier to be offering insurance – workers’ compensation – on the platform. New and existing carrier partners from Dovetail’s legacy platform will joint the new system in the coming months.

Once fully populated, small commercial agents will be able to access business owners policies, workers compensation, general liability, professional liability, commercial auto, and umbrella policies from a stable of top-rated insurance carriers, for their small commercial clients.

Sources: Metromile, Dovetail