vehicle-protection
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JM&A Group makes the next visit count
A car sale lasts an afternoon. JM&A Group has built a business around everything that follows, from the protection contract to the service lane - and the habits that make both work.
Brendan Church Is Making the Work Van Worth Looking At
At LEGEND, Brendan Church markets floors, liners and locks by keeping the camera on the people whose livelihoods ride inside a work vehicle.
The Warranty Company You’ve Probably Bought From Without Knowing It
Safe-Guard sits behind the dealership finance desk, turning flat tires, cracked glass and repair anxiety into a white-label business used by more than 12,000 dealers. Its real product is not a warranty - it is the machinery that makes dozens of protection programs feel like one brand’s own.
Assurant
You may never shop for Assurant, yet it may already be standing behind your phone, car, apartment or mortgage. The $12.8 billion company has built a business out of everything that happens after the sale.
Keith Brendley
Keith Brendley is the founder, president and CEO of Artis, LLC, a Herndon, Virginia defense-technology firm he started in 1999. A former RAND Corporation senior analyst and co-author of the influential military doctrine 'Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance,' Brendley is one of America's leading authorities on active protection systems. His signature invention, the Iron Curtain, uses radar, optical sensors and downward-firing countermeasures to neutralize incoming rocket-propelled grenades within centimeters of an armored vehicle. His newer Sentinel system extends that protection to drones and first-person-view loitering munitions.
One Llama
One Llama is a community-driven auto protection program that offers a lower-cost alternative to traditional collision and comprehensive auto insurance. Members pay into a shared mutual-aid fund - roughly 70% of each payment supports other members' repair costs while about 30% covers service fees - and they earn One Llama Tokens (OLT) for safe driving and referrals. Plans start around $350 for six months with protection up to $100,000, and the program leans on AI risk and damage assessment plus a DePIN/blockchain layer to record driving data and reward safe miles transparently.
Artis
Artis, LLC (Advanced Real-Time Information Systems) is a Herndon, Virginia defense and technology developer that builds systems for problems measured in microseconds. Founded in 1999 by Keith Brendley, the company is best known for active protection systems for military vehicles - Iron Curtain and its third-generation successor, Sentinel - that detect and defeat incoming rockets, missiles and drone-borne threats in fractions of a second. Beyond defense, Artis applies its high-speed sensing and parallel-processing work to highway worker safety, 3D imaging and pedestrian monitoring.
Caribou Financial, Inc.
Caribou is a Denver-based auto fintech that helps drivers cut the cost of owning their car. Through a digital platform, it connects car owners with a network of credit unions and community banks to refinance their auto loans, typically saving customers over $100 a month, and pairs that with an auto insurance marketplace and vehicle protection products. Founded in 2016 as MotoRefi and rebranded to Caribou in 2021, the company reached unicorn status with a $1.1 billion valuation after a $115 million Series C round led by Goldman Sachs in 2022.