Insurtech Zego partners with ride-hailing giant FREE NOW as it looks to disrupt Ireland’s taxi insurance market

Leading insurtech firm Zego has partnered with the country’s leading e-hailing app FREE NOW as it looks to disrupt Ireland’s taxi insurance market. Zego’s taxi policy will be available to the 14,000 taxi drivers using FREE NOW in Ireland, enabling them to reduce their costs, thanks to fairer, more flexible and more competitive insurance than anything that currently exists in the Irish market.

FREE NOW drivers will have access to Zego’s annual or 30-day policies upon sign-up, providing a more cost-effective model for drivers, especially those whose workload or ability to work has been negatively impacted by COVID-19. The partnership is Zego’s first taxi work provider partnership in Ireland and a significant milestone in a market with huge potential for disruption.

Zego, in the B2B space, has been disrupting the traditional insurance model since 2016, offering tailored, flexible products to gig economy drivers, commercial fleet businesses and more recently, new mobility services such as e-scooter platforms. As a technology led insurer, Zego is able to serve its customers without incurring many of the common operational overheads associated with traditional motor insurance, while also employing additional data points to enhance its understanding of customer risk. These developments mean that Zego can offer much fairer pricing to its ever-growing customer base, in a sustainable way.

FREE NOW, formerly mytaxi, is one of Europe’s leading taxi e-hailing apps, operating in over 100 cities across the UK and Europe. During the pandemic, the e-hailing app has diversified its booking options in order to give drivers and passengers peace of mind, for example, by adding a Taxi+Screen booking option which allows passengers to specifically book a taxi with a partition between the driver and passenger. More recently, the company has launched its new eco-friendly booking option, allowing passengers to select a hybrid or electric taxi, with over 90% of passengers saying they would consider using this option in Dublin.

Sten Saar, CEO and Co-Founder of Zego, said: “The Irish insurance market is overinflated and ripe for disruption. We believe that we can do this in a sustainable way, offering drivers a smarter and more cost-effective insurance product which better reflects their risk.

“We are very happy to be partnering with one of the world’s most influential mobility brands and hope to build on this relationship in the months and years to come.”

Fiona Brady, Head of Operations at FREE NOW, said: “We know insurance costs are simply too high for many drivers in Ireland. We believe that there needs to be a concerted effort to address this and we are pleased to be able to work with an innovative insurance company like Zego to enable drivers to benefit from better value insurance. This year has been a real challenge for taxi drivers and we will continue to support them in accessing better products so that they can reduce their cost base and maximise their revenue.”