Chapter 144 The insurance company is coming
A certain domestic insurance giant company.
Several company executives are sitting around the table. The huge screen in the conference room is playing the news clip of Xiaoyuan robot being hit, the evaluation report of Metaverse Intelligent Control’s after-sales engineer, and the hot topic of "300,000 maintenance fee" on social media.
The executives present did not show any sympathy for the owner of the accident, but instead shone brightly. In their eyes, this was not a tragedy, but an opportunity.
“Metaverse Intelligent Control sold 63,900 robots last year. The sales volume announced shortly before the first quarter of this year was 65,100. The cumulative sales of this product in the first half of the year were close to 130,000. Its performance far exceeded market expectations.”
This is a large-ticket product priced at 788,800 yuan. It has already brought more than 100 billion in revenue to Metaverse Intelligent Control within half a year of its launch.
"If costs can be further reduced in the future, the mid-range market has greater potential. There are already 300 million ordinary middle-class families nationwide. For a family of three, that is 100 million families. Even for a family of five, there are 60 million families, which is still a terrifying size."
"They will penetrate deeply into homes, shopping malls, hospitals, streets, etc., and the risks they face include: traffic accidents, man-made collisions, falling objects from heights, and even malicious damage."
"These words of the chief actuary made the executives present brighten their eyes.
At this time, the risk management director at the meeting frowned and asked: "What about the risk model? We lack enough historical data to support the accurate establishment of a risk model on Xiaoyuan robot's failure rate, accident rate, core component maintenance cost fluctuations, etc."
He looked around the crowd and added: "Especially the safety protection system of this robot. Once the self-destruction program is triggered, the repair cost is almost the replacement of the entire machine. Some of the parts are said to be more expensive than the same weight of gold."
"Risks definitely exist." Another executive attending the meeting said: "But a blank market means pricing power. We don't need to pursue a perfect model. In comparison, we can already confirm such a large potential market, and we need to be preemptive."
The executive next to him couldn't help but said: "What do you mean?" Therefore, we quickly launched the first commercial insurance service specifically for Xiaoyuan robots. Maybe our peers think the same way, so we can’t be timid. "
"Everyone, we should not discuss whether to do it, but how to seize this emerging "robot risk management" blue ocean as quickly and best as possible. Once the robots go out of the house and hit the streets, the profits of the insurance industry will come."
Another executive added: "You can design a tiered premium plan. The basic premium covers common physical damage, such as scratches on the casing, sensor failure, etc., and high additional insurance covers the repair or replacement of expensive components such as core drive units. You can even add third-party liability insurance, what if the robot makes a mistake in operating and injures people or property?"
The executive in charge of marketing and sales immediately answered the call. He said: "The timing is really good now. Public opinion is paying attention and users are anxious. Metaverse itself does not have a mature insurance package. It is recommended to quickly contact Metaverse to discuss cooperation. It would be great if it can be its officially recommended insurance service provider."
Several other executives attending the meeting nodded one after another.
At this time, the director of the legal department reminded: "The liability determination needs to be clarified as soon as possible. If the robot is hit as "property", the liability lies with the party responsible. But what if the accident is caused by the robot's own failure? Or does it cause losses to a third party during its work as a "service provider"? This requires the definition of the legal framework and the design of policy clauses."
The president who participated in the meeting said: "This is what we want to promote, and I believe Metaverse Intelligent Control will also do so. Same. "
After a while, he immediately made a decision: "Set up a special team to finalize the model and premium plan as soon as possible, and contact Metaverse Intelligent Control as soon as possible. The legal department will take the lead and come up with a new draft insurance clause that adapts to the characteristics of the robot. The technology department will evaluate the possibility of establishing a remote diagnosis and rapid damage assessment process for the robot."
This matter was established within the company.
A storm surrounding the car accident of Xiao Yuan robot is quietly turning around, giving birth to a brand new insurance market with unlimited potential.
…
Three days later, Friday, April 29th.
In the chairman's office, Meng Qiuyan, who came here, was sitting on the sofa in the rest area with Lu An.
Meng Qiuyan said: "An insurance company has taken the initiative to visit us and contact us. At this moment, Yu Changle is interviewing the people sent by the other party to create commercial reimbursement supporting services around the Xiaoyuan robot."
Meng Qiuyan couldn't help complaining: "Last year, we sent people to proactively contact those insurance companies and proposed commercial insurance cooperation for Xiaoyuan Robot. As a result, no one was willing to provide insurance. Now they are rushing to ask for cooperation."
Wen Yan , Lu An said with a smile: "It is expected. I was unwilling to cooperate before because I was afraid of losing money and worried that Xiaoyuan Robot would not be able to sell a few."
Before the product was launched, people from all walks of life generally believed that Xiaoyuan Robot had poor sales and was a niche market.
The insurance industry also judged this way, so they rejected Metaverse Intelligent Control's cooperation invitation, fearing that the deal would lose money.
As a result, the sales of Xiaoyuan Robot were huge, exceeding external expectations.
Half a year has passed, and Xiaoyuan Robot’s sales have been steadily climbing. With the unexpected support of other external factors, Xiaoyuan Robot’s sales have further increased significantly.
The current weekly sales volume has stabilized at more than 5,000 units. Even if this sales volume does not increase, the expected sales volume for the whole year can reach 250,000 units.
And Xiaoyuan Robot has huge room for expansion.
If nothing else, there is a huge gap in nursing staff in the elderly care industry, and Xiaoyuan Robot is perfectly capable of fulfilling the duties of a nursing staff.
In the foreseeable future, this is a huge incremental market that is enough to bring an output value of hundreds of billions to the insurance market.
At the end, Lu An said slowly: "Since we are rushing to ask for cooperation, and the other party can accept the conditions of Yuanjie Intelligent Control, let's cooperate. This will also benefit the sales of Xiaoyuan Robot."
It is really unreasonable to have no commercial insurance for a large product priced at 788,800 yuan.
The lack of insurance has also restricted product sales to a certain extent. Especially this time when Xiaoyuan Robot was hit by a motor vehicle, it attracted a lot of attention on the Internet. Among them, the topic of Xiaoyuan Robot's commercial insurance is also very hot.
…
At the same time, a conference room of the company.
Zhang Weiqiang, the vice chairman of Mantech Insurance Group, one of the top five large insurance groups in the industry, led a team to Metaverse.
On the Yuanjie Intelligent Control side, Yu Changle met with the other party, and the company’s legal and after-sales directors were also present at the meeting. Lu An did not appear, but everyone knew that his will was present throughout.
Hence Metaverse Intelligent Control’s attitude towards cooperation with insurance companies is that they can cooperate.
At this moment, the two parties exchanged their cooperation plans.
Yu Changle is reading the specific cooperation blueprint provided by the other party. This is a draft, which mainly contains four major contents.
Exclusive and in-depth binding: Mannatech has become the exclusive official insurance partner of Xiaoyuan Robot series products worldwide. Insurance products are deeply integrated into the sales process and user APP as Xiaoyuan Robot's standard configuration or highly recommended option.
Shared data risk control: Metaverse Intelligent Control needs to open some desensitized operation data of Xiaoyuan robots to Mantech, such as basic usage frequency, common working environment characteristics, etc., to build more accurate risk models and pricing strategies.
Joint loss assessment and claim settlement: Metaverse’s authorized service centers across the country provide repair quotations for designated repair and damage assessment points, and Mannatech will settle claims after review.
Profit sharing ratio: The sharing ratio in the industry is generally between 20% and 30%. Mannatech Insurance has given a 50% sharing ratio and promised to invest huge resources in joint marketing.
…
Zhang Weiqiang is also reading the cooperation initiative document of Metaverse Intelligent Control, which mainly includes five major contents.
No deductible: Metaverse requires that all core components of the Xiaoyuan robot be covered, and no deductible may be set due to any accidents, such as third-party collisions, natural disasters and other damage caused by reasons other than the user's own. The claim settlement standard refers to the quotation from the official maintenance center of Metaverse.
Joint and several liability clause: For third-party personal injuries or major property losses caused by Xiaoyuan robot's own hardware and software failures during its work, the partner must bear 50% of the compensation liability.
· Claims time limit clause: Metaverse requires that for accidents with clear responsibilities, the partner shall complete the compensation payment to the user account or Metaverse’s special account within 72 hours after receiving the final repair quotation issued by the Metaverse authorized service center, and shall not delay it through any internal review process.
Data security boundary: Metaverse refuses to open any in-depth operational data involving core algorithms, user privacy, and environmental details. Only the most basic, highly aggregated, non-individually identifiable device health statistics are provided.
· Insurance premium pricing power: Yuanjie Intelligent Control requires a veto power on the final premium pricing to ensure that premiums are reasonable and affordable for users, and that excessive costs cannot be passed on to consumers because insurance companies pursue profits.
…
Both parties have read the materials provided by each other.
It just so happens that neither of them can accept the other party’s conditions.
Zhang Weiqiang took a deep breath, immediately looked at Yu Changle and said:
"Mr. Yu, your company's request... This completely subverts the basic principles of risk sharing and actuarial pricing in the insurance industry. Where is this insurance cooperation? It is clearly asking us to unilaterally provide guarantees for the quality of your company's products and all possible unexpected behaviors of users."
He added: "This is impossible, no insurance company can accept such terms."