+ LATE MORNING KEYNOTE | 11:45 - 12:30pm

ALEX TIMM

CEO + Co-founder,
Root

There are roughly 230 million licensed drivers in America. More than 75 percent of adults rely on a car to drive themselves to work. Yet millions of Americans struggle with poor credit, and nearly every insurer today bases premiums on credit score, and on other factors that have biases baked deep into them. This practice forces those least able to afford it to pay more to drive. Families with unpaid medical debt. Young people with crushing student loans. Single parents struggling with credit card debt. Black and Hispanic communities, which according to the Federal Reserve, have lower credit scores as compared to white and Asian people.

At the end of the day, a person’s credit score is not a good measure of their risk as a driver.

Thankfully, there is a better alternative. Over the last decade, there have been major technological advances, allowing companies like Root to measure risk based on actual driving behavior. Consumers have the ability to install an app that measures every aspect of driving, such as hard braking, speed of turns, and whether a driver uses their phone while driving. This enables companies like Root to calculate a rate that more accurately reflects how someone drives, saving them money in the process.

Such developments make the industry’s switch away biased demographic factors like credit score not just feasible but viable. Not only will it make the car insurance industry stronger, but also bring us closer to eliminating racial inequality in our country. The future of the car insurance industry and the best interests of the millions of drivers in this country whose vehicles are a lifeline for economic security is at stake.

America’s roads should not be open to discrimination as was the case nearly a century ago. Our roads should be a pathway to greater freedom, equality, and opportunity. The car insurance industry must protect consumers, not trap them in a cycle of worsening economic hardship. To realize that promise, industry stakeholders must step up and do what’s right by all drivers, not just the ones with good credit.