CoverHound: CoverHound raises $58 million to simplify online insurance shopping

Chances are you already compare clothes, hotels, airline tickets, gadgets, doodads, and knick-knacks online before you make a purchasing decision, so why not add insurance policies to the list? It’s a practice more common abroad than in the U.S. — a 2016 survey by Finaccord found that 40 percent of U.K. customers signed up for plans for the first time or switched carriers online, compared to the fewer than 5 percent of folks stateside who opted to do so — but it’s a burgeoning business. In 2017, roughly 25 percent of U.S. drivers bought car insurance on the web.