The term shopping not only applies to the merchandise that you buy off from a grocery store, but also to the non-conventional products such as auto insurance. Back in 2009, many consumers have realized that shopping is indeed one way to save money. According to the website PRNewswire, the number of people who are relying for online purchases for their auto insurance policies have grown rapidly.
The virtual world of insurance
Back in the 80’s, the use of the Internet is limited to the academics and military applications. Only during the 90’s when the Information Superhighway was finally opened for public use and its full potentials were felt. The World Wide Web became the center of commerce for products and services apart from being the entertainment and data portal.
A reliable company, ComScore Inc., released a report about the latest buying trends for those who buy their auto insurance online. It was estimated that on 2009, around 38 million online quotes were served and nearly 3 million of it were purchased online. As you may have noticed 3 million is just a percentage over 38 million, but this is already a good indication that people have started to trust and use the system. Furthermore, as more and more people are getting affected with the current recession, many of them are looking for cheap policies and better details everywhere.
Are the offers really cheap?
One thing is definite; you have the power to shop for better insurance deals as many as you can while using the Internet – or by phone if you prefer. Ten years ago, this setup is unheard. Getting multiple insurance quotes could mean talking to different insurance agents from different insurers and reiterating the same speech over and over again. Not to mention the times that you are being put on hold because the representative has to manually look for the information that you need.
Today is different – minus all the hassles. You just need to go to a website and bring back ten to twenty insurance quotes instantly by answering few questions. And with this new technology in place, any consumer can make outright purchases and gets his coverage without much delay.
More is better
For many years, we have relied to the opinions of our friends, families and colleagues. In fact, many of their feedbacks have made our purchases a lot easier, faster and often times feel its worthiness. Over the Internet, feedbacks have their special place too and there are websites who specialize in providing these timely comments to the consumers. For instance, before purchasing any policy, it is a good idea to read what J.D. Power has to say for that company.
What many people do not know that when a company operates in a “paperless” setup, it is saving money from its operating cost and will allow it to offer low cost insurance policies to its consumers. And since the Internet is a fair playing field for all companies, this will breed a healthy competition amongst them.
How to get started
I have not seen any disadvantages for shopping and buying auto insurance policies online. What you only need is a reliable internet connection and all the necessary information about your car’s mileage, model, year or make.
