OnStar Insurance will rebrand as GM Insurance by the end of the month, according to a General Motors press release.

The insurance brand, already owned by GM financial, covers GM brands, such as Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. It offers loyalty discounts for GM vehicle owners, covers the replacement of GM Genuine Parts and covers electric home charges for GM EVs, the OnStar website states .

OnStar Insurance offers usage-based insurance in which the rates are predicated on the customer’s driving habits, and is currently available in Arizona, Texas and Illinois. The company plans to expand the market this year, the release said.

“Shifting to the GM Insurance name and branding will drive increased product awareness and understanding among GM customers and allows us to better reach these customers at key milestones in the vehicle ownership life cycle, ultimately providing an auto insurance product that is safer, smarter and more personalized,” Andrew Rose, GM insurance president and financial executive vice president, said in the release. “Transitioning to GM Insurance also establishes stronger alignment with General Motors’ core strategies and
operations, allowing us to realize further enterprise wide synergies.”

Bringing the insurance in-house will allow the company to make more positive changes for customers, the release said.

During a keynote speech opening the International Bodyshop Industry Symposium in Nashville last year, Rose told delegates that it’s necessary for OEMs, technicians, and insurers to collaborate and find solutions to challenges the collision repair industry is facing.

“The vehicles leave our manufacturing lines with some incredible safety features these days. They help us prevent or diminish the significance of an accident when it happens,” Rose said. “But those people want those vehicles back on the road and we want them as safe as they were when they came off the line [after a collision].

“And so from that standpoint, that’s where I see the collaboration and the cooperation that needs to take place between all three parties. We want those vehicles returned back to the state they were when they came off the manufacturing line, and that’s the partnership. Working with the industry, working with partners that have that goal in mind, is going to be a key step for us as we build out our ecosystem.”

During a panel discussion at Repairer Driven Education at the SEMA Show last year, Rose said he wanted to incentivize good driving behaviors with their insurance.

“That money can go back into your pocket — more value back to the safest drivers,” he said. “If you get into a claim when an accident does happen, not only can we assist, but we can use our technology to help triage the accident scene… We can dispatch first responders. We can tell them what part of the car they need to go to first because it has the greatest amount of damage. Thankfully, the vast majority of accidents aren’t that severe, which means the pain they feel is us. You and me, the claims process, we can improve if not, fix that, with this data.”

Rose said that in the future, data from sensors could determine what parts are damaged in a crash. The part could automatically be ordered and a repair scheduled. He also said a consumer could receive a new vehicle within 24 hours of their vehicle being totaled.

In response to an audience member’s question on how OEM insurance providers handle payment for pre- and post-scans, which repairers often receive pushback from carriers on, Rose said that’s the benefit of having insurers at OEMs.

“I can take that comment back and go, ‘Why do we do that, if we actually want you to do this every time? Why do we say recommend?’ I may learn that there’s a very good reason why we say that or they may go, ‘Alright, we’ll change it,'” he said. “That’s the benefit of having an insurer inside of an OEM.”

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