The car insurance business has been forever changed by the Internet. In fact, the business today bears little resemblance to what it was before the Information Age first dawned in 1992. Before the World Wide Web took over, most people settled in with one company and stuck with them for home and auto insurance. Not so today. The churn numbers due to being able to get auto insurance quotes online continue to diverge from home - auto combos with the same company.
As a group, insurance companies, brokers and agents combined to form a distinct group of what the marketing whizzes call “early adopters.” Now, a sub-group called skimmers has formed with Grey Power and the American Association of Retired Persons in the lead. These groups negotiate bulk rates for group members and in so doing skim off the cream of the car insurance crop. With the ease of obtaining auto insurance quotes online, competition for business is fierce.
A consequence of this, however, is that it has meant that certain insurers are skimming off low-risk drivers, leaving those willing to insure the typical new driver, male, with significantly lower ability to allocate risk. This is why insurance rates for new drivers have increased so dramatically that it has increased the number of males under 25 driving illegally, with no insurance at all. There are on-going debates in actuarial theory about the problem.
The benefits of online insurance shopping are so great for the consumer that it will only grow as the preferred way to shop for automobile coverage. The use of the Yellow Pages and telephone as the preferred method of shopping for car insurance continues to drop. By the time someone picks up the phone these days they have likely already checked out the insurer’s website, entered their vital statistics and gotten a quote.
A recent survey by a well known business school asked 400 online insurance shoppers why they chose to look for car insurance online. The number one response was that they wanted a quote and that was it. Car insurance websites know this and make it as fast and easy to use as possible.
For many, playing with the answers to the yes - no question you have to answer to get the quote is an eye opener. In these tight economic times, being able to see how your insurance rate will change if you buy the Honda Accord as compared to if you go for the Echo, may well be the differentiator in more than one buyer’s mind.
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.
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