AI Is Reshaping Insurance Shopping - But It Won't Replace Agents
Insurance costs keep climbing. A new Insurify survey points to where buyers are headed: AI for the shopping and switching, humans for judgment and service.
For anyone working in insurance, that means distribution economics are shifting. Front-end work is getting automated, while the high-trust moments still sit with you and your team.
What Americans Actually Said
- 86% are open to using AI to shop for insurance.
- 42% have already used AI assistants for car insurance shopping, including 60% of Gen Z.
- 39% would let AI secure a policy with a new insurer to save money - and that jumps to 68% if savings hit $1,000 per year.
- 76% believe AI can simplify shopping.
- 53% still find human agents more credible than tech assistants.
- Only 16% think AI could assess accident fault and damage better than a human.
- 25% believe AI could handle customer service better than an agent.
- Female drivers are almost twice as likely as males to say a human does these tasks better than AI: 27% vs. 16%.
Source: Insurify survey of 3,002 drivers. See Insurify's research.
Why This Matters for Carriers, MGAs, and Agencies
Consumers are comfortable letting AI handle price discovery, comparisons, and even auto-switching if the savings are clear. That compresses margins and puts pressure on agent commissions tied to front-end shopping.
Tools like Chat-based assistants can already do needs discovery, coverage explanations, and rate comparisons - without the commission bias that can shape recommendations. Your edge now comes from credibility, coverage advice, and outcomes when things go wrong.
Where Humans Still Win
- Judgment-heavy calls: accident fault, nuanced coverage trade-offs, escalations.
- Trust and empathy in service: resolving edge cases, guiding stressful claims moments.
- Credibility with key segments: the survey shows a stronger preference for human help among female drivers.
Translation: let AI handle the shopping grunt work; keep humans visible where stakes are high.
What To Do Now
- Build AI-assisted shopping flows. Pre-fill, compare, and explain coverage in plain language. Offer a one-click quote review by a licensed agent before bind.
- Adopt "AI + Advisor" routing. AI handles intake and simple quotes; complex risks and final bind go to specialists.
- Set explicit savings thresholds. Allow customer-approved auto-switching (e.g., ≥$500-$1,000 savings) with clear consent and audit trails.
- Rework compensation. Reduce incentives that push higher-premium products. Move to transparent fees or flat commissions for comparable products.
- Train your team on prompts and guardrails. Standardize how producers and CSRs use AI for comparisons, summaries, and client comms - with verification steps built in.
- Keep data clean and compliant. Log AI outputs, add disclaimers, and require human sign-off for coverage and claims guidance.
- Measure the right metrics. Time-to-quote, bind rate, retention, complaint rate, and savings per policy. If those improve, your AI workflow is doing its job.
- Differentiate on service. Offer proactive renewal reviews, claims triage, and post-accident checklists led by humans.
- Segment by age and preference. Make chat-first shopping the default for Gen Z and younger buyers, with a fast handoff to human advisors on request.
Risk and Compliance Watch-outs
- Accuracy and E&O exposure: require human verification before bind and for claims guidance.
- Disclosure: tell customers when AI is used, especially for recommendations and auto-switching.
- Consent and documentation: capture thresholds, approvals, and versioned quotes.
- Bias and fairness: monitor prompts, training data, and outcomes; run periodic audits.
- Privacy and security: control PHI/PII handling and restrict where sensitive data is processed.
Bottom Line
AI is set to handle the shopping and savings hunt. Humans keep the high-stakes calls and the relationship.
The winners will blend both: AI for speed and comparisons; advisors for credibility, context, and outcomes.
If your team needs practical upskilling on AI for quoting, service, and operations, explore curated options by job role here: Complete AI Training - Courses by Job.
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