Buy Auto Insurance Online – How To Find Auto Insurance Quotes Online
June 8, 2009 by Matt Hellstrom
Filed under Auto Insurance
The Internet has changed the auto insurance business so extensively that it no longer resembles what it was prior to the creation of the World Wide Web in 1992. Back then, when car insurance renewal time came around, an estimated sixty-three per cent of car owners ended up remaining with their insurer, according to the Insurance Institute of America. Today that figure is down to less than twenty-three per cent due to the abilitiy to obtain auto insurance quotes online.
Many accuse the insurance industry with a litany of failures in responding to customer needs. Loyalty bonuses, common in many businesses, simply are not out there in the car and home insurance field, and they should be. The problem of insurance skimmers, that is, companies that specialize in low rates for older drivers, continues to give actuarial statisticians fits. Given this failing, many insurance companies find themselves needing to adjust to the new mode of delivering auto insurance quotes online.
The insurance companies have to balance off the income they lose in giving group rates to older drivers. That’s the way business works. And in this case, business working means rates for high-risk young males and new drivers have soared in part thanks to the Internet. It is no longer uncommon for young drivers to drive without collision coverage even in an almost new car, or to drive with no insurance at all. It is one of those unintended consequence of new technologies.
The benefits for consumers in shopping online for automobile insurance are tremendous. Calling insurance agents and brokers is time consuming, plus you have to reveal personal information to strangers, which is never fun, even if you’re not privacy sensitive. And when was the last time you called a business office and didn’t have to go through a time consuming voice menu only to wind up talking to an answering machine?
Surveys of those who do shop for car insurance online consistently rank “Convenience” as the number one reason people shop on the internet for car insurance. They love the ability to get an instant quote without having to trade voice mails, or even speak with anyone.
When you are at an online car insurance site, a dialog box will ask you all the right questions – the questions you didn’t know you should have been asking. Typically these include; number of years driving, make and model of car, place of residence, whether or not the vehicle is used to commute to work, moving violations within the past X-amount of years, etc.
Did you know that your place of residence affects your rates? It does. People in urban areas have a far greater chance of having their vehicle stolen. What’s the difference between full coverage and full liability? You can find out yourself without worrying about looking like a cheapskate or an ignoramus.
