It was pointed out that Carrot General Insurance(Carrot) didn't reflect the client-grade upgrade and delayed processing.

Driver A told Korea Duty-Free News on the 26th, "Client-grade upgrades have been missing from mid-August 2023 to the present," and "I inquired with the insurance company and found out that the accumulated speed ratio is the sum of all existing speed ratios divided by the number of trips." and added "I received the argument that the more records there are, the less chance there is," 

Mr. A asked, "I have been driving the car in the same pattern for several months. What kind of ridiculous reason is this?" Carrot Insurance reportedly responded, "Please pay attention to the constant speed ratio, saying it was not reflected because the speed ratio was low."

In response, Mr. A said, "Every month, a driving report comes out, and the constant speed ratio is shown as an ideal monthly value. Would a customer inquire about this without checking this?" He said he received a response from Carrot Customer Center saying that even the disputed grade would be reflected and posted in October.

However, Mr. A claimed that although more than a month had passed since he inquired about the matter last August, the issue of missing grades had yet to be resolved, and there had been no response to his posts on the bulletin board.

He pointed out, "At the point where they go from Gold to Platinum, they are deceiving customers by talking about speed ratio, number of trips, and driving records."

An official from Carrot said in a phone call with Korea Duty-Free News on the 27th, "I called the customer separately and explained it to him directly, and he understood when I asked for his understanding." He added, "It was a little late because I responded while announcing the policy change on the app."

The official said that this issue is not a system error but a policy issue and that the policy has been changed to consider the speed ratio on a three-month basis from the 15th of next month.

Carrot's system error has happened before. Carrot has had an issue with missing ratings.

Mr. B, who lives in Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, launched the Carrot app to check the driving points and rating of the Carrot Permile car insurance he signed up for early this year. He was eligible to receive gold status, which allows him to earn double mileage points, but he discovered that his accumulated mileage had been reset.

Mr. B said, "On the morning of the 2nd, the customer service center said they would take immediate action and contact me, but on that day, there was no contact from Carrot. When I called again the next day, they repeated the same answer."

A Carrot official said, "We acknowledge that there was an error in reflecting some customer points and ratings due to a system error, and we apologize to the customer in question. We have backup data, so the customer's membership information has now been restored to normal."

Carrot's Permile car insurance is Korea's first digital non-life insurance created by Hanwha, SK Telecom, and Hyundai Motor Company. Unlike general insurance, where you pay a year's worth of car insurance all at once, this is a deferred payment method where you pay the premium for each month you drive. Drivers who do not usually drive a lot have the advantage of receiving monthly deferred payments and points provided based on driving performance. However, frequent mistakes are made in basic system operation, and a decline in trust in Permile car insurance appears inevitable.

Carrot emphasizes the phrase 'Carrot is smart with driving data' in an advertisement modeled after actress Go Yun-jeong. Although paying insurance premiums based on mileage may be refreshing and reasonable, Carrot, which operates it, could be more brilliant.

Carrot, managed by Hanwha Life Insurance President Kim Dong-won, the second son of Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-yeon, is mired in a series of losses. President Kim's ambitious work initially raised industry expectations, but that was it.

Carrot had a net loss of 16.5 billion won in the first half of this year. Last year, it recorded a net loss of 79.5 billion won, and the deficit has been increasing every year since its launch, including 9.1 billion won in 2019, 38.1 billion won in 2020, 65 billion won in 2021, and 79.3 billion won in 2022. In February of this year, the announcement that Carrot Insurance's Permile Auto Insurance had surpassed 1 million cumulative subscriptions to celebrate its 3rd anniversary was in vain.

Meanwhile, the parent company of Carrot Non-life Insurance is Hanwha Non-life Insurance, with a 60.4% stake. Hanwha Non-Life Insurance is controlled by Hanwha Life Insurance, which holds a 51.4% stake. The pinnacle of the governance structure of the group's financial affiliates, including Carrot Insurance, Hanwha General Insurance, Hanwha Investment & Securities, and Hanwha Asset Management, is Hanwha Life Insurance. President Kim holds a 2.1% stake in Hanwha, the majority shareholder of Hanwha Life Insurance, and a 0.03% stake in Hanwha Life Insurance.

An official from Carrot Insurance said, "Although Carrot is a subsidiary of Hanwha, it is a company that has other shareholders, and decisions are made according to the shareholders' shares," emphasizing that it is not a company under the overall control of President Kim.

The link to the Korean version of this article is below.

▷똑똑하지 않은 캐롯보험, 또 고객 등급 반영 오류 발생

By_BK Min, KDFN kdf@kdfnews.com