As your car insurance premium can be a big month-to-month cost, it's understandable to want to find a conceivable way to obtain a policy that comes with a lower rate. To do so, many consumers use car insurance quote comparison websites. Others find it more effective to call around to insurance agents in hopes of getting a few agents into a price war. The question is, which of these strategies is by nature more effective – will car insurance agents offer the same rates as a comparison website?
Unfortunately, there's no 100 percent clear answer to this question. The car insurance quote that you get from each agent largely depends on that agent's methods and the company that he works for. Some actually use the comparison websites themselves, and try to offer customers a lower rate than the minimum quote that pops up. Car insurance agents work in a very competitive industry, so agents that adopt this strategy do so in order to ensure that their customers won't find a lower price anywhere. However, these types of agents are few and far in between. Most simply try to offer better car insurance rates for potential customers who hold policies at rival companies, but not necessarily the best rates possible. Any reduction in the premiums that the customer pays will come out of the agent's profits, so they have a strong incentive to keep prices up.
Comparison websites, on the other hand, don't have this incentive. They deal in volume. Thousands or even hundreds of thousands of visitors browse each car insurance comparison website each day. At this rate, any customers that the comparison websites can get to buy a policy results in an instant profit for the website owners. As a result, they want to get as many customers as possible. The best way to do that is to offer an accurate estimation of the prices of each company. The website comparison business is arguably more focused on consumers and finding lower car insurance rates for them.
Therefore, the car insurance quote that you receive from an agent may vary greatly from the quote that you receive from an online comparison website. It's simply due to a different approach to the business, and doesn't reflect any poor ethics or problem with the agents themselves. Nevertheless, it's advisable to check out insurance comparison websites before speaking to an agent. This way, consumers can at least have all of the relevant information in front of them, and they can have a few rates to compare with the agent's quote. Comparison websites are ultimately a better tool for consumers looking to get a good rate in a timely manner.
