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.
Insurers have attempted to adjust to the growing preference for getting auto insurance quotes online by a number of methods. Specialized programs for low risk drivers, primarily those over 50, are common now. Year-to-year increases for members of this group are kept at about a percentage point above the inflation rate, which is low enough to keep the client from going through the trouble of shopping around.
The inevitable result of this type of reaction to the rate-squeeze caused by the proliferation of auto insurance quotes online has been a polarization of risk classes. Minimal risk classes – married male drivers age 50 and older, and female drivers age 40 and up – have had their car insurance rates remain steady or drop over the past decade, while rates in the high-risk young male class have skyrocketed. In consequence, the number of young men driving with no insurance or liability only has also increased.
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?
When asked why they would shop online for car insurance in a 2001 Wharton School of Business survey, the most often response was the advantage of getting an instant quote. After all, who needs to seek advice from an agent? Many people don’t even know what questions they should be asking, and agents aren’t about to volunteer the questions they really don’t want to deal with.
An unintended consequence of the ease in obtaining online quotes for car insurance is the transparency of the risk profiling process. When shoppers answer the questions, they see what factor the make of their car plays, or where they live. They understand the financial implications of getting liability only, rather than full coverage.
Perhaps one of the most attractive and informative features of otaining an auto insurance quote online besides shopping for car insurance is when you decide to shop for a new car. Many sites that offer online auto insurance quotes have a feature where people can find out the different rates per vehicle. When evaluating comparable models that vary greatly in dealer invoice prices, the car insurance cost can be a deal breaker or maker.
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