Survey Shows On-line Auto Insurance Quoting, Purchasing Cutting into Marketshare
Results of a study, “The 2008 comScore Online Automobile Insurance Report,” conducted by comScore, Inc., reveals that consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet to purchase auto insurance.
The study provides insights into the online auto insurance market and the behaviors and attitudes of auto insurance consumers. The report is based on behavioral 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.
The study cites that 15 percent of respondents reported purchasing their current policy online, a 3-percentage-point gain versus the previous year. Meanwhile, the traditional agent channel saw a corresponding decline in market share, decreasing three points to 53 percent of total policies purchased.
"Purchasing with a local agent has historically been the dominant method by which people purchased auto insurance," said Kevin Levitt, comScore’s vice president. "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, off-line channels to the Internet."
Consumers were also asked what action they would take if they wanted more information after seeing an auto insurance advertisement. Seventy-five percent of respondents indicated that they would turn to the Internet. A notable percentage of consumers said they would either visit the website specified in the ad (26 percent), use search options to find a company website (22 percent), visit the company website (20 percent), or look online at another website to find contact information (8 percent).
The study also found that even consumers who bought a policy through an agent still rely on the Internet to obtain information about auto insurance. Nearly 80 percent of consumers who purchased through an agent said they value having an agent; but of those consumers, 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.
About comScore
comScore is a global Internet information provider to which leading companies turn for consumer behavior insight that drives successful marketing, sales and trading strategies. comScore maintains massive proprietary databases that provide a continuous, real-time measurement of the myriad ways in which the Internet is used and the wide variety of activities that are occurring online.
Source: Source: comScore, Inc. | Published on May 16, 2008
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