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Auto insurance agents are losing ground to an all-familiar
competitor—the Internet.
“The 2008 comScore Online Automobile Insurance Report,” from
comScore, Inc., presents the behaviors and attitudes of auto insurance
consumers. According to the study, consumers are increasingly turning to the
Web to purchase auto insurance policies: 15 percent of respondents said they
bought their current policy online, up three percentage points over the previous
year.
Meanwhile, the traditional agent channel suffered a decline
in market share, down three points to 53 percent of total policies purchased.
Method of Purchasing an Auto Insurance Policy
Method of Purchase Percent
of Respondents
2007 2008 Point Change
With local agent over phone 16 15 -1
With local agent in person 56 53 -3
Over the phone toll-free 13 13 0
Other/through work 3 4
1
Online 12 15 3
“Purchasing with a local agent has historically been the
dominant method by which people purchased auto insurance,” said Kevin Levitt, vice
president of comScore. “While it still remains the primary method, these latest
findings show us that the landscape is beginning to change, with more and more
consumers turning from traditional, offline channels to the Internet.”
Consumers were also asked what action they would take if
they wanted more information after seeing an auto insurance advertisement.
Three-fourths of all respondents said that they would turn to the Internet in
some way: 26 percent said they would visit the Web site specified in the ad; 22
percent would use a search engine to find a company Web site; 20 percent would
visit the company Web site to find contact info for a local agent; and 8
percent said they would look at another Web site to find contact information.
Only 9 percent said they would call a toll-free number in
the ad, and just 7 percent said they would look offline for information for a
local agent.
Nine percent said they weren’t sure what they would do.
Even consumers who bought a policy through an agent still
rely on the Internet to obtain information about auto insurance, the survey
showed. Nearly 80 percent of those who purchased through an agent said they
value having an agent; but among those, nearly 40 percent have received a rate
quote online, and 30 percent said they would purchase a policy online in the
future.
“It’s clear that the Internet channel is integral to the
process of purchasing auto insurance—even for consumers who tend to rely more
heavily on their agents,” said Levitt.
The survey is based on data collected from comScore’s panel
of 1 million U.S.
consumers during 2007 and a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. Internet users
conducted during the third week of March 2008.
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