Online auto insurance purchasing on the rise

A new report has suggested that online auto insurance shopping is on the rise, winning more customers and gaining market share from traditional sales methods.

The survey, conducted by US internet monitor comScore with a US audience, showed that as of April 2011, 20 percent of respondents were purchasing their auto insurance online.

That's still considerably below the 43 percent who purchase from a local agent in person, according to comScore's survey, but it has overtaken the 18 percent who purchase from a local agent using the phone.

Although one in five customers still seems very low, the figures suggest that there is every reason to expect that number to grow rapidly, as for most the experience of buying auto insurance online is becoming more attractive.

In 2009, when comScore asked consumers who hadn't purchased insurance online whether they would consider the idea, 48 percent said it was unlikely - this year, that number has fallen dramatically to just 22 percent.

Similarly, customers currently using a local agent appear to be looking around for alternatives - while 16 percent of respondents in 2009 said that they were likely to use another method, 22 percent said that they were looking for a change this year.

Insurance businesses in the US are offering rapidly-improving suites of services for consumers that want to shop online.

ComScore reported earlier this year that new insurance and aggregator (search) sites were gaining an increasing number of customers compared to the traditional providers, and now it seems customers are responding to those offers.

"Consumer preferences and attitudes toward online insurance channels indicate a growing regard for these channels as a better way to search for policies and engage with issuers… We expect to see a continuing shift toward the use of these online channels for conducting auto insurance transactions," said comScore's Susan Kleinman.

http://www.comscore.com