Your Best California Insurance Quote Online
California insurance consumers listen up! It seems that the days of the face to face California insurance salesman are over. Unless it’s for health or life insurance, you can easily get the best auto and home insurance deals online, and as to the other types of insurance, read on …
Today millions of people buy nearly every kind of insurance online, especially car and home insurance, and the numbers are growing because it’s so easy and you get the best deal. Sales of life and disability insurance, including long term care, are also picking up on the internet but there’s some caveats you need to know about when shopping for these other types of insurance online.
When consumers seeking insurance deals get to a quote website, they must enter their contact information to get life insurance quotes. Afterwards they will receive multiple competing insurance quotes for policies. Insurance companies actually do not need your email address, name, or phone number to offer you a quote for life insurance, but use your contact information to try to follow up and wear you down into buying. That’s fine because it often helps prompt you into buying what you need and following up to complete a sale may be a nuisance, but is part of business life.
The big caveat is one of trickery: many websites show customers unrealistically low quotes and then requote higher premium rates as they get more information from the consumer. While you don’t usually have to worry about this with car or home insurance, which have become somewhat standardized and highly competitive markets (hence the TV commercials), you must beware the bait and switch techniques when buying life and disability insurance online.
Here are 5 tips to help you navigate the waters of buying insurance online:
Make sure the insurance quote site you use is not a front for a single insurance company
The whole purpose of online quotes is to get multiple insurance vendors quoting for your business. If only one company gives you a quote, you’ll never be exposed to potential cost savings from others. Furthermore, you could end up getting inundated with followup calls from that company about that one policy. The solution is to get multiple quotes without giving up much personal information.
Use a site that exhibits quotes from multiple insurance companies
Of course you should do this — this is what the “game” is all about. The more companies that quote on your business, the higher your chances of a good deal and tremendous cost savings. This works fantastic when shopping for auto and home insurance.
Check the financial ratings of your prospective insurer
This is something many people overlook. Nothing is worse than paying a hefty sum each year only to find out that your insurance company is broke when you have to collect, or won’t pay you when you need to recover damages. Insurance companies can go under, just like banks, so if you plan to buy an annuity or long term policy it makes sense to check the financial strength ratings of your company with a rating from a firm like A.M. Best. Consumer advocate sites can tell you other important information: whether the company is likely to pay when you ask for a claim) technically this is called “customer service”). You can get a good rate, but if the company doesn’t want to pay you or pays slowly when time is of the essence, then what are you ultimately paying for?
Be wary of the “Bait and Switch” rate quote game
This is a common technique to trick you into contacting one insurance company first. Some unscrupulous companies might quote you the best possible rate based on incomplete information or the best possible assumptions, and once they find out more about you they’ll requote a much higher rate than expected. If when inputting information on your quote form it does not ask about your height and weight or basic health questions (such as smoking, etc.), then it’s possible that you’re being lured with an artificially low rate.
Check for electronic signatures
No one likes to shop online and then have to travel to some local office to sign paperwork. Check to see whether your site accepts electronic signatures online for completing your insurance transaction. This will save you time and money. Internet shopping is for convenience, and this is part of the consumer convenience package that we expect. If you’re looking for insurance in California, don’t you want your company to be up to date with this ability?
