• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, January 9, 2015

Google recently formed a partnership with the insurance comparison shopping site CompareNow.com, which operates like the Kayak travel site, but for auto insurance. The move follows the company's entrance into the U.K. insurance market a few years ago. Google Compare U.K. rolled out in 2012, per a Forrester Research analyst. Some suggest the United States will likely see a U.S. counterpart soon. 

Getting the pieces together to launch a U.S. site hasn't been easy. "Even though insurers have been mentioning Google overtures to participate on the comparison site to me for more than two years now, the Google Compare US site launch keeps getting pushed back," writes Ellen Carney, Forrester analyst. "As late as last month the site was expected to launch in California, to be followed in Q1 2015 with likely launches in  Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Last I heard was that California pilot wouldn't begin until sometime in Q1."

Data from the car and Android operating system will become one of the more important pieces to developing future products, agrees Carney. She told MediaPost Google is developing chops with the regulators to determine how this will work. "They can only simplify the process by acquiring an insurance carrier or underwriting insurance carrier, and my very speculative assertion that they could even acquire CoverHound," she said.

CoverHound’s San Francisco headquarters is conveniently close to Google’s Mountain View Campus. Plus, CoverHound gets Google the kind of insurance chops that the company will really need should they decide they really like the insurance business."

She said an acquisition might explain this most recent delay into the U.S. market. Stephanie Cuthbertson, Kenneth Yi, and Meredith Stechbart are acting as the president, secretary, and treasurer, respectively.

While researching for a report on Google Compare services, Carney learned through a state insurance commission filing that Google is licensed to do business in more than half the states across the U.S. The states include California, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, New Jersey, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

"Google is authorized to transact business on behalf of are Dairyland, MetLife, Mercury, Permanent General Assurance, Viking Insurance of Wisconsin and Workmen’s, meaning that many others were likely taking a wait and see approach before jumping on," Carney explains.

Aside from doing business with a handful of insurance agencies, it appears as if Google added CoverHound in Dec. 2014, which it could try to acquire. CoverHound, a comparison shopping site for insurance, would put Google in the U.S. market more quickly.

Self-driving cars will likely need special previsions and coverage. This would give Google the ability to more closely monitor the insurance market and lobby for specific legislation for driverless cars. Acquiring CoverHound would also could possibly allow Google to offer less expensive insurance for the cars they design and have built. If nothing else, perhaps subsidize the cost.