Most of the first-time auto insurance buyers prefer to get their auto insurance quotes online and tend to bypass the insurance agents or the call centers, says a report from J.D. Power and Associates.
The California-based marketing information services company The Westlake Village states that for the very first time over 50% of the insurance buyers have stated that they obtained their auto insurance quotes online.
During an Insurance Shopping Study conducted in 2011 at least 54% of the shoppers had obtained their insurance quotes from the internet. However, there are many who still purchase auto insurance either from an insurance agent or through the call centers.
However, J.D. Power has stated that these results underestimate the fact that since the last 5 years since the study took place the insurer’s website has been instrumental in getting new business among the new buyers and it has been increasing steadily as opposed to the traditional agency or the sales through call centers.
Jeremy Bowler has stated that this transition that has taken place, where websites are the dominating channels, shows the shift from the traditional channels. It is important for insurance companies to recognize the same and address these issues in order to bring about some changes in their sales and marketing strategies. He is the senior director of global insurance practice at the J.D. Power and Associates. He also stated that while 50% of the web quotes are closed either through call centers or through agents, customers are more often than not looking at the websites of insurers or even at third-party websites during the early stages of their shopping process. This shift in shopping patterns is blurring the lines regarding the way people think about the so-called ‘discrete’ sales channels.
Even the insurance agents claim that they have noticed a drop in the purchase of insurance from them, since the last five years. During 2007, at least 57% of consumers shopped for insurance through an insurance agent but by 2011 the figure had dropped to around 52% and even purchased through call centers had dropped from 22% during 2007 to 20% in 2011.
However, purchases over the web seem to have increased from 22% to 28% in 2007.
There are more numbers of buyers who are now willing to shop for a new policy each year as per the results from the survey and it has increased to 33% from 30% last year.
