View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2002/01/28/17336.htm
Cartel Marketing and TurboCoverage, Inc., providers in dealer point-of-sale auto insurance, have formed a new company to provide online insurance to carbuyers in dealerships. The new company is called Expresslink Inc.,www.explink.com.
ExpressLink’s insurance platform leverages the strength of Cartel’s 20-year-old insurance distribution network and TurboCoverage’s first-of-its kind technology platform for online auto insurance.
“ExpressLink is focused on a large, attractive market of consumers who each year make millions of insurance purchases in auto dealerships,” said ExpressLink CEO Phil Barry. “ExpressLink is well-positioned to offer consumers and dealers a better way to secure insurance because of our proven track record of success, a highly experienced management team and board of directors, and a set of strategic partners that create significant barriers to entry. This merger is a perfect match of complementary skills.”
ExpressLink’s Internet-based platform introduces speed, reliability and convenience into the insurance process in the dealership. Through Expresslink, consumers can arrange coverage in minutes and immediately take possession of their vehicle, while satisfying state insurance requirements.
At the same time, ExpressLink enhances deal-flow to help vehicle retailers sell more units and improve overall customer satisfaction.
ExpressLink plans to roll out its platform nationally through an exclusive agreement with CVR (Computerized Vehicle Registration), a wholly owned subsidiary of ADP and Reynolds and Reynolds. Together CVR, Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NYSE:ADP) ADP and Reynolds and Reynolds (NYSE:REY) have relationships with more than 80 percent of the dealers in the country “Our strategic partnership with CVR provides ExpressLink with a footprint to expand our national sales efforts, while giving us a very important interface to the ADP and Reynolds and Reynolds dealer management systems,” said Jack Edelstein, President of ExpressLink. “As a result, we will move quickly to build a national business.”
ExpressLink will leverage CVR’s national sales force to sell to automotive retailers. “We will benefit from the integration of the ExpressLink Auto Insurance product with the major dealer management systems to provide a more efficient product that will automatically pre-populate consumer and vehicle information directly into the online insurance application,” said Dale Penn, Vice President, Sales and Marketing.
ExpressLink currently sells more than 70,000 policies a year, making it the largest single, point-of-sale insurance provider in the country. The company offers insurance products in California, Nevada and Arizona, and plans to be approved in the 40 most populous states in 2002.
The ExpressLink Team ExpressLink’s management team has more than 140 years of insurance, dealership and technology experience. The team includes the following executives: Robert Humphries, Chairman; Phil Barry, CEO; Jack Edelstein, President; David Diem, Chief Operating Officer; Dale Penn, Vice President, Sales and Marketing; Laurie Holcomb, National Sales Manager; Pam Vogt, Vice President of Finance; Jon Danley, Vice President of Administration; Sean Willis, Director of Information Systems.
In addition to Humphries, Barry, Edelstein and Diem, ExpressLink’s board members include: Michael Smythe, formerly President of Smythe European, Inc., the nation’s fifth-largest Mercedes Benz and the second-largest Volvo dealership. Symthe was formerly Chairman of the Board of TurboCoverage. Eric McAfee, principal in Berg McAfee Companies and Cagan McAfee Capital Partners, a member of President George Bush’s Information Technology National Advisory Board, and an active Silicon Valley venture capitalist with holdings in more than 25 technology companies. Ron Goldsberry, a former Ford Motor Co. executive with more than 30 years of business experience with companies such as Boston Consulting Group, Hewlett-Packard, Gulf Oil Company, and NASA Ames Research Center. Mr. Goldsberry is currently Chairman of the Board of OnStation, an e-commerce company providing software for the automotive after market, and is on the Board of Stanford Graduate School of Business.
For more information, contact ExpressLink at 1-800-373-5057.