by Angus MacCaull

Digital pink slips, also known as electronic pink slips or eSlips, landed on Canadian smartphones one year ago. Nova Scotia became the first province to officially embrace the new technology. According to CSIO (Centre for Study of Insurance Operations), digital pink slips have also seen widespread use across the country.

“It’s a simple solution,” said Monica Hanna, Business Solutions Delivery Lead at CSIO. “Customers are able to pull it up on their mobile device anytime they need it.”

After an insurance broker sends a customer a secure email with a digital pink slip, the customer puts it in their smartphone’s digital wallet. It can be then accessed with the customer’s thumbprint or smartphone password—no need for wifi, data or any other app or login.

Digital wallets are used by customers in many industries to store points cards, travel and event tickets, even debit and credit cards to “tap” at the point of sale. They are safe and handy on both iOS and Android. I personally use my digital wallet daily to pay for groceries and collect rewards at the gas station, drug store, restaurants and all kinds of businesses large and small.

For customers buying a car, their insurance broker can send them a new digital pink slip while they’re still at the dealership. Brokers can also customize some of the interactive contact information on the digital pink slip. A click to call 24 hour claims number is one option.

And like other passes and cards stored on smartphones, digital pink slips can be easily shared. For commercial fleet policies, brokers can send the digital pink slip to the company’s main insurance contact who can share it with all the drivers within minutes.

“We looked at various different scenarios and it was the best approach to take for consumers across Canada, regardless of whether they’re in rural areas or big urban cities,” said Hanna. “We looked at it from the ease of the consumer process because we knew for brokers to see success with this, it was important that there was simplicity.”

 

My Proof of Insurance examples
CSIO’s secure digital pink slip delivery is called My Proof of Insurance and integrates with industry business management systems