There is Something Strange in the Car Insurance Quotes

There is something very fishy going on in the car insurance industry of late. A recent study by a insurance watchdog organization found that of all the different types of insurance products available, car insurance products have the greatest price variance given the same set of variables. To the lay man, if you use the same set of information about your lifestyle, where you park your car, your workplace etc and use that information to get quotes for the same coverage from different companies you will get huge differences in their quotations for car insurance. Sometimes the difference between the lowest to the highest can be as much as 100%. The coverage and risk figures are exactly the same; the only thing that can account for the difference in price is how much money the insurance company wants to make off their clients.

A number of smaller insurance companies have actually decided to use this to their advantage, the have specialized in targeting consumers and offer quotes that are wildly above market rates. They will target certain consumer groups that aren’t particularly savvy when it comes to car insurance needs or those who are plainly too lazy to go for other quotes and are happy to pay the premiums that are over market acceptable rates. This may also be the practice with those who have insurance agents who are supposedly working for their interests. The dodgy car insurance company will offer the agents commission that is above the norm so the insurance agent with direct their clients to their insurance company instead. The insurance agent gets more money and their clients get screwed.

Just to compound matters even more, what these insurance companies are doing isn’t exactly wrong. Although some people would rightly consider it preying on the unsuspecting car insurance rookies, the industry actually considers it smart customer profiling. There are no laws against these practices and even industry watchdogs have turned a blind eye to this practice saying that any fault would lay squarely on the arms of the person requesting the car insurance quotation. Looking at it subjectively, as with any purchase, it is up to the customer to find out if they are getting a good quote. It isn’t the prerogative of the insurance provider to give you a quote at the market price. Almost all insurance companies are profit making entities and thus must strive to satisfy this need. Customer profiling is looking at the pool of customers that you can potentially target and find ones that are easily satisfied with whatever quote your provide to them.

Being a prudent customer also calls for you to at least get a few quotes from different car insurance companies. We can certainly understand that many people are indeed busy to liaise with the different car insurance companies to obtain quotes however the benefit of doing it (lower quotations and market analysis) far outweigh any inconveniences with filling up forms and calling the insurance company to chase for quotes or verifications.

Some car insurance companies also prey on clients who are very loyal to their car insurance providers. Some people stick to their car insurance company as if there is some sort of reward program in place. This consumer group is very loyal and will stay with their insurance provider for many years. What some car insurance companies do it increase the premiums ever so slightly every year. This could be in the lines of 3-4% per year. Most of these loyal customers wouldn’t mind such a small increase and simply continue with their car insurance policy with their old company. Over the years, through the magic of compounding they don’t realize that their car insurance policy has gone up in costs substantially. Some of the time, their insurance costs would have escalated by as much as 50%. It is only when the poor policy holder gets another quote for their car insurance that they realize what a huge increase in price they are paying.

As you would have guessed, the morale of the story is to always search around for quotes. This is especially true in the car insurance industry where there are some unsavory practices and unfair treatment for certain types of customers. Besides the point on certain customer profiling, this is an industry where differences in normal car insurance quotes from differing companies can substantially vary.

Want to find out more about car insurance quotes, then visit Ryan Parker’s site on how to choose the best quotation for your needs.