4 ms·

There is actually another company that has this concept: CoverHound. I'm one of the co-founders. We started a few months before Leaky. We went through the Ange

There is actually another company that has this concept: CoverHound. I'm one of the co-founders. We started a few months before Leaky. We went through the AngelPad incubator during the Winter 2011 class. TechCrunch covered us in a little blurb at the time. Since then we've received VC funding and have built out our team a little bit. There's no publicly available pricing API for insurance carriers yet, so I'm curious as to how Leaky comes up with their numbers.

InfinityX0 15y ago
You need more clarity on the homepage. It's obvious that it's car insurance but the process is information->information->start, which Leaky makes it obvious and it basically goes start->figure it out. Get the user started on the conversion funnel while you explain to them what the service does - I'm pretty certain (based on my lead generation experience) that this will end in a far superior conversion rate for you.
- slouch 15y ago
  I agree with this guy. CoverHound.com reads like the envelopes I get from Progressive...a few pages more than I am willing to read. edit: To find this page I went to the bottom of the home page, tried to click on the Pennsylvania state outline, clicked the Pennsylvania text link, looked for my car on the most stolen cars lists, found "Car insurance quotes get started" at the bottom http://coverhound.com/step1 http://coverhound.com/step1
jerrya 15y ago
I greatly appreciate you will help me find insurance that protects my car from alien abduction. Does that cover me, my passengers, and cow, or is it just for the vehicle itself? :) http://i.imgur.com/B9zdt.png http://i.imgur.com/B9zdt.png http://coverhound.com/ http://coverhound.com/
lacker 15y ago
I don't think it's really the same concept. On Leaky, you type in your information once, and then they show you insurance quotes. Whereas CoverHound just gives me links to insurance companies' websites, and then I have to fill out my information on each of those websites. If I were you guys, I would switch to the Leaky model, because it seems a lot easier for the user to only type in their information once.
- joelmichael 15y ago
  Currently, our recommendation engine is the only publicly available product. We're building a platform similar to what Leaky portrays, but it's still in development. Displaying truly accurate and actionable rates is not a simple task.
- elbelcho 15y ago
  The product that cover hound is offering at this moment (as far as I can tell) is practically without use. It just gave me links or phone numbers for 4 companies that sell car insurance in my state. I can get similar results by searching for "Ohio car insurance" and clicking the ads that come up. What appears to be their full featured future product looks EXTREMELY interesting. It appears that coverhound will almost work like an automated insurance agent, for example, give them your info once, and they'll check rates for you on a regular and recurring basis. THAT product seems extremely valuable to me and would be doing the world a great favor.
Hisoka 15y ago
Is it just me or does Coverhound and Leaky just look like lipstick on a pig? It's backed by big names like YC, but in the end what distinguishes them from "thin affiliate" sites that get penalized by Google? Ok, so they both have slightly better web designs than the average affiliate site, what else? I'm not saying these sites aren't useful, but if you're gonna punish thin affiliates, you might as well penalize these guys too if you don't want to be hypocritical
- heyitsnick 15y ago
  Just watching the Leaky vid, it seems like they are adding real value.
gcb 15y ago
sorry, your company is just one more of those 'we will send your email to every company around'. I just filled both forms. one is email passive, the other is just showing a list of companies that do not give me no more information than a link and phone number. The change leaky (or coverhound) has of succeeding, is if they do what mint did. provide a way to work with insurance companies, even if there's no 'publicly available pricing API'. There will be the magic that is missing in this market. but, of course, once you have your service mandated by the gov (as is here in cali) you will make it harder and harder for the public to be informed about prices of your service. That's the gotcha with car insurance. no company benefits being transparent about rates.

InfinityX0 15y ago

You need more clarity on the homepage. It's obvious that it's car insurance but the process is information->information->start, which Leaky makes it obvious and it basically goes start->figure it out. Get the user started on the conversion funnel while you explain to them what the service does - I'm pretty certain (based on my lead generation experience) that this will end in a far superior conversion rate for you.

slouch 15y ago
I agree with this guy. CoverHound.com reads like the envelopes I get from Progressive...a few pages more than I am willing to read. edit: To find this page I went to the bottom of the home page, tried to click on the Pennsylvania state outline, clicked the Pennsylvania text link, looked for my car on the most stolen cars lists, found "Car insurance quotes get started" at the bottom http://coverhound.com/step1 http://coverhound.com/step1

jerrya 15y ago

I greatly appreciate you will help me find insurance that protects my car from alien abduction. Does that cover me, my passengers, and cow, or is it just for the vehicle itself? :) http://i.imgur.com/B9zdt.png http://i.imgur.com/B9zdt.png http://coverhound.com/ http://coverhound.com/

lacker 15y ago

I don't think it's really the same concept. On Leaky, you type in your information once, and then they show you insurance quotes. Whereas CoverHound just gives me links to insurance companies' websites, and then I have to fill out my information on each of those websites. If I were you guys, I would switch to the Leaky model, because it seems a lot easier for the user to only type in their information once.

joelmichael 15y ago
Currently, our recommendation engine is the only publicly available product. We're building a platform similar to what Leaky portrays, but it's still in development. Displaying truly accurate and actionable rates is not a simple task.
elbelcho 15y ago
The product that cover hound is offering at this moment (as far as I can tell) is practically without use. It just gave me links or phone numbers for 4 companies that sell car insurance in my state. I can get similar results by searching for "Ohio car insurance" and clicking the ads that come up. What appears to be their full featured future product looks EXTREMELY interesting. It appears that coverhound will almost work like an automated insurance agent, for example, give them your info once, and they'll check rates for you on a regular and recurring basis. THAT product seems extremely valuable to me and would be doing the world a great favor.

Hisoka 15y ago

Is it just me or does Coverhound and Leaky just look like lipstick on a pig? It's backed by big names like YC, but in the end what distinguishes them from "thin affiliate" sites that get penalized by Google? Ok, so they both have slightly better web designs than the average affiliate site, what else? I'm not saying these sites aren't useful, but if you're gonna punish thin affiliates, you might as well penalize these guys too if you don't want to be hypocritical

heyitsnick 15y ago
Just watching the Leaky vid, it seems like they are adding real value.

gcb 15y ago

sorry, your company is just one more of those 'we will send your email to every company around'. I just filled both forms. one is email passive, the other is just showing a list of companies that do not give me no more information than a link and phone number. The change leaky (or coverhound) has of succeeding, is if they do what mint did. provide a way to work with insurance companies, even if there's no 'publicly available pricing API'. There will be the magic that is missing in this market. but, of course, once you have your service mandated by the gov (as is here in cali) you will make it harder and harder for the public to be informed about prices of your service. That's the gotcha with car insurance. no company benefits being transparent about rates.