Avoid These Auto Insurance Sites When You Buy Quotes
No one likes to constantly receive calls, text messages and emails with auto insurance quotes from countless companies – even long after you’ve already purchased a policy. If this has happened to you, you have probably used a quote comparison website to save time instead of calling individual insurance companies.
Luckily, there are ways to use these time-saving websites without getting quote spam for weeks.
What are quote comparison sites?
Price comparison websites are third-party sites that scrape all your information (anything related to finding auto insurance, anyway) and use that data to find a few offers for you from different car insurance companies.
There are two types of quote comparison websites: one simply shows you quotes after you give them your information; another shares your data with insurance agencies and marketing companies and even sells it to data brokers and you keep getting quotes and offers from many companies until you decide to sell your car and flee the country. Fortunately, there are actionable steps to make sure you’re dealing with a non-spam website.
Use these comparison sites to save time and avoid getting spammed with insurance quotes.
The difficulty with comparison websites is that you don’t know which of the two types you’re going to get until you submit all your information and get to the quote stage. It is very important to know which comparison sites will reliably show you quotes and not sell your information. The following independent insurance agents are trustworthy:
These agents are also conveniently connected to various insurance companies, so you get a variety of choices with each one (just don’t expect quotes from some of the big players like Farmers and State Farm; some don’t allow insurance agents to sell their services). politicians). Keep in mind that the numbers you see are preliminary, which means you’ll get an accurate quote once they run your credit and look at your driving history.
Avoid these comparison sites
You want to avoid comparison tools known as lead generators that share your data with other companies, such as:
These lead generation companies take your data and sell it to anyone for any amount of money someone is willing to pay, and sometimes to companies that have nothing to do with car insurance. Fortunately, some state attorneys general are trying to ban this practice .
Best Practices for Buying Auto Insurance
You should check every year what place your policy occupies in the market (especially if you move cities). Using comparison sites is smart and saves a lot of time. But if you don’t like getting spam or other companies taking advantage of your personal date, follow these steps to shop safely:
- Check if the comparison site is licensed to sell insurance. If they are not registered as an insurance agent in your state, they cannot provide you with quotes, so why give them your details? Call their customer service and ask directly or contact your state insurance commission office .
- Read their terms and policies. I know what you’re thinking, but listen to me. Each company’s terms of service and privacy policy are usually available at the bottom of their page. You can do a simple word search on some keywords like “sell” or “share” to see what they do with your data. I promise it will be fast.
- Always refuse further communication. Once you have finished using the price comparison website, make sure you opt out of their communications service. You can do this by unsubscribing from their emails by texting “stop” or “opt out” in their text messages. You can also search for the company name on Google and then “opt out” to find a page where you can opt out of further communications. (If you’ve used a lead generator comparison tool, this will be much more difficult for you to do.)
- Call some of the major auto insurance companies as well. Keep in mind that some big companies won’t be included in the comparison tools, so be sure to give them a call or check their websites for quotes.