In the world of insurance, there is one thing that is worth more than anything else – peace of mind . If you want peace of mind , then you need to buy car insurance online.
There are a lot of insurance companies and agents out there, but just one is perfect for you. When you set out to choose your car insurance online, it is important to have clarity on exactly what will cost. You need to know what the premium will be for your vehicle, how and when it will be paid, and which company or company representative can answer any questions that arise .
2. Types of Car Insurance
So, you decide to get some auto insurance online. You go to a site that looks like an attractive site, but it’s a pain in the ass to navigate, with poor updates and interface design. You get lost and you need help; you click on the “Contact Us” link, but nothing happens. You try again and again and nothing happens. Your credit card bill is due next month and you don’t want to pay half of it out of pocket after the fact. So you throw your hands up in exasperation and leave the website.
The reason why car insurance is so hard for most people to use is because most people do not have a solid understanding of how car insurance works. They don’t know what they are signing up for or why they should care about it (or worse yet, they don’t even know what they are getting into). Their lack of understanding has led them to expect too much from their auto insurer, which leads them to be disappointed when they find that they can actually do very little compared with what they thought was going on (or worse yet didn’t realize was going on).
What we need is a product or service that will help people understand exactly what car insurance is — both as an insurance product (which it already is) and as an activity (e.g., buying a car). Car insurance online could be good enough for this purpose because it could offer nice features like interactive maps showing locations where traffic conditions were considered dangerous by the insurer — but that would require full-service access from the outset, which would make it expensive for most users (the more limited sites now charge $10/month per user per year — which is hardly worth their time).
The problem with doing a lot of research for an online site like this is that most people will not read through all the information before making a purchase decision — even if those who do read through all the info are clearly aware that they have paid more than other consumers who did not view all the info before making a purchase decision (and didn’t buy online). So if we want people to make purchasing decisions based on research done at least 3 weeks ago we need to provide them with something *really* useful in terms of information: say, car travel routes created by our insurers based on driving patterns over many months; actual traffic flow data similar to Google Maps; or perhaps better yet… real-time data from our
3. Different kinds of insurance
Some insurance companies are much better at marketing than others. The death of the old trust-based model, where you could depend on your insurer to act in your best interests, has led to a new trend: the “car insurance online” business. It’s a tricky one because it uses different marketing tropes depending on whether you are trying to sell auto or personal insurance.
The auto insurance market is ripe with problems:
• Most people have very little in the way of upfront savings before they even think about buying an insurance policy;
• Insurance companies are often willing to sell policies with very low premiums, making them less expensive than they would otherwise be (which means that more people can get more money);
• However, when it comes down to it, insurers want as many people as possible insured and turning away people who don’t want coverage is not a cost-effective way of getting them insured. So insurers try to keep paying as many claims as possible and make sure that their peak rates (when claims go up) are always higher than their rates at other times. This is why most insurers will offer discounts for those who buy their policies on a monthly basis rather than yearly and why some will offer lower discounts for young drivers.
In the case of personal insurance, there are two main factors at play:
• Insurers are generally more concerned with maintaining customer loyalty than making sure they make money;
• There is also largely little incentive for insurers to be competitive because most customers don’t care which provider they choose (they just want affordable coverage), so they will usually pick whichever insurer has the lowest price without regard to quality control or any other factors.
So here are some things that you need to do before getting into car insurance online:
4. Comparison of different policies
Two things make CarInsuranceOnline.com stand out from the competition: We’re the only online car insurance provider who works with major US insurers, and we’re the only one who offers a toll-free phone number so that you can talk to a live agent, 24/7.
The first is about specialization within the insurance industry. There are dozens if not hundreds of online insurers — some of which are more conservative than others (or even just more aggressive) and even those that stick to strict guidelines include a wide range of premiums (from $150 to $2000). So how do you know which company is right for your needs?
You’ve probably heard of comparison shopping, but how many people actually use it? Why would they use something that doesn’t work very well or isn’t especially convenient? It turns out there are two reasons:
1. You must be cautious when comparing all-inclusive quotes: You want to get a quote in as few clicks (and at least as fast) as possible so that you can get back to work or run errands immediately. But if a company is offering an all-inclusive quote it means it can offer anything, including portions of its competitors’ policies!
2. Some people look for insurance companies who have lived up to their claims: When I was in college I was hit by an uninsured driver, who then turned out to be uninsured at the time he hit me (though his insurance company paid for my medical bills). In retrospect I am thankful I didn’t buy his policy (though I was advised not to by friends).
CarInsuranceOnline is one such company and we’re proud of our reputation for having one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry with over 35 different plans offered by over 20 different carriers, including top brands like GEICO, Nationwide and MetLife.
5. How to save money on insurance?
There are many ways to save money on car insurance. One is to set up an automatic payment plan, where you pay a regular amount of money into the account every week and then make all the monthly payments when they come due. You may have to keep track of what you’re doing with your payment history first, but it’s worth it if you can find ways that save you money.
Another way is to use a credit card for your auto insurance. An online calculator can be helpful to figure out how much savings you could be getting out of this approach, so that you can justify your decision to do a credit card instead.
But there are lots of other ways as well — things outside the realm of auto insurance: There is no point in paying into an automatic payment plan if you don’t make any payments at all.
The same goes for full coverage: while there are some companies that offer low prices, they often don’t cover everything and only cover basic items like collision and theft coverage (and they may not even do that). Even if they do cover everything you need, it doesn’t mean they will back up your claim or even provide an adequate replacement vehicle or repair bill in case something happens to your car (which is why some people stick with lower-priced plans for this purpose). So if you want comprehensive coverage, especially in cases where multiple cars are involved (like in a family), then going with cheap full coverage instead might be wise.
And lastly: there are lots of different things people do with their car insurance policies, each one with its advantages and disadvantages; for example, putting some limits on how much property damage liability you want covered; different type and quantity of roadside assistance services; etc… And each policy has its own buying strategies aimed at protecting both the client and the provider from having too much liability exposure.
6. Conclusion
In this edition of the series on car insurance, we focus on the online side of the market. The reason is the sheer number of insurers out there and the sheer volume of cars on the road.
The world is full of cars — in fact, it’s pretty hard to see any one model without seeing many others behind it. This means that all car insurance providers need to be online to attract new customers.
For some reason, most people who are considering insurance online think that means they should go with a single provider and sign up for everything at once. This is not the case — if anything, you need to choose a few insurers, each with their own policies (and possibly group options), and make sure you have an individual policy when it comes time to renew your policy!
So let’s take a look at some things you will need to consider as you shop for your car insurance online:
• Your insurer’s policies: If you are going to use multiple insurers (as many people do), you will need more than just a basic policy! You want one insurer for all categories so that when you buy an extra ticket or get into an accident, your insurer can offer coverage for it promptly and efficiently.
• Your plan duration: Many times we find that people who lose coverage through no fault of their own decide they don’t want any more coverage with their existing policy than they have now (i.e., there is no incremental cost associated with adding additional coverage). They might also not want any collision coverage because they already have comprehensive or collision in place — but what if someone hits them from behind? Shouldn’t cover them completely then?! So if you are going to buy additional coverage for specific cars, this could be worth contemplating.
• Your deductible: Car insurance costs money; by definition it is a service provided by companies who are profit-driven (they expect premiums to cover losses). The larger your deductible(s) are, the less likely they will take claims (as opposed to making money off them). You don’t want too high a deductible as there’s always some risk that someone won’t claim it or someone won’t pay up (or both!). What’s important here is what type(s) of accidents happen most often? If low-risk driving gets covered by your deductible(s), then maybe having higher-than-average deductibles isn’t such a terrible idea!
