Car Insurance Articles » Top 5 Reasons to Always Compare Auto Insurance Quotes Online Prior to Purchasing

Since the cost of car insurance is generally spread throughout the year across monthly payments, it may not seem like a significant purchase. However, those monthly payments add up, and when you factor in the likelihood that you’ll stay with a provider for a couple of years (though we strongly urge annual reviews to make sure you’re getting the best deal!), car insurance becomes a significant purchase. As with all significant financial decisions, shopping around for the best deal is a best practice. Using car insurance rate quotes from online services like ours can make the job fairly easy. If we haven’t sold you yet on the importance of shopping for a deal, here are some additional selling points:.

1. You Could Miss Out On Some Great Deals
   No one likes to miss out on a big sale or a great discount, but that is essentially what you might be doing to yourself- by choice- when don’t shop around and compare quotes online before purchasing automobile insurance. Insurance companies are continuously re-balancing their “portfolios” (which is effectively the population of insurance contracts that they have entered into). Each company uses a unique and complicated risk model to determine pricing and to find the mixture of policies that minimizes their overall risk and maximizes their profit. An insurer may find that they need more teenage drivers or more drivers with multiple policies (etc.) and may offer discounts or reduced pricing to attract that type of customer. Effectively, that insurer is having a sale and that sale may only last a limited time, until their portfolio is again “in balance” at which time they stop trying to aggressively attract your business. Only by shopping policies across insurers can you find these types of deals.
2. You Might End Up Overpaying
   Beyond offering “sales discounts,” insurance companies are all unique. Each one has its own set of internal models that measure risk and return, and each company focuses its attention on a certain mixture of policies. As insurers compete against one another, they specialize (which involves tailoring their financial models) to best control their risk and maximize their profit. Many insurers specialize in specific demographics (or portfolios). Some insurers specialize in “high-risk” drivers (teenagers, people with poor credit, etc.) while others prefer to specialize in low-risk drivers (for instance, a middle aged person with a clean driving record, a dog and two kids).This specialization enables these companies to build tailored models that better manage risk and return. Specialization also allows a company to offer tailored customer service practices to meet their target population (for instance, a company may focus on Hispanic drivers and employ Spanish-speaking customer service agents). You can benefit from the competition between insurers by comparing policies to find the insurer who is able to offer the cheapest car insurance policy and best customer service due to their specialization.
3. Comparing Rate Quotes is Quick
   As millions of retail consumers have come to learn, shopping online is quick! It’s one of principal reasons why shopping online has grown significantly in the past couple of decades. As the internet has matured, the speed has only increased. This speed and efficiency applies to insurance as well as it does clothing or electronics. At freecarinsurancequotesonline.com our services and business practices offer you quick access to insurance quotes. The whole process can take as little as ten minutes. While time is important, we do recommend that you compare multiple policies to find the best policy for you.
4. Comparing Rate Quotes is Free
   Since it doesn’t cost you a dime to view and compare rate quotes, and can actually save you quite a few dimes in the long run, there really is no excuse for not comparing quotes online. Unless, of course, you enjoy just throwing money away.
5. Comparing Rate Quotes is Informative
   Above all, the best thing about being able to get and compare rate quotes online is how much you learn in the process. Insurance is a big purchase, both in terms of dollars and in terms of peace of mind. Not only do you learn which providers operate in your area, their rates, and their coverage options, but you gain the knowledge to take control of a major financial arena. That, in itself, is absolutely priceless and will serve you continuously over the course of your life.