The market for auto or car insurance is a great example of the merit of the Internet. In the past, if you wanted to get the best price on your car insurance, you had to "shop around" by going from one insurance broker or company's office to another or calling around. The problem was that it was hard, if not impossible, to tell if you were really comparing apples to apples...
The Internet is all about getting information and, more importantly, being able to quickly and easily compare facts, data, and information from different sources.
Because of this simple fact, it's possible that companies trying to sell services (rather than products) online have felt the effects of customers being able to find, check, and compare this kind of information more than anyone else.
Service is not like a physical product because you can't pick it up, feel it, or touch it. So, a service provider should give as much information as possible, because the more information a potential customer has, the more confident he is likely to be when making a decision to buy.
What better way is there to do this than on the Internet?
The market for auto or car insurance is a great example of this. In the past, if you wanted to get the best price on your car insurance, you had to "shop around" by going from one insurance broker or company's office to another or calling around.
The problem was that it was hard, if not impossible, to know if you were really comparing apples to apples. There were (and still are to a large extent) so many possible differences between one company's policy and another's that it was almost impossible to tell if two policies really did offer the same level of protection and benefits.
Not always was this a bad thing. For example, all car insurance companies tend to "load" the premium, or charge extra, for "young drivers" to be on a policy. This can be bad news for parents who use the family car to teach their son or daughter to drive. But Company "A" might say that a young driver is anyone under the age of 18, while Company "B" might set the age at 21.
If your child was 19 at the time, it's likely that Company "A" would be the best choice.
In other words, you had to "read the fine print" in the past if you didn't want to end up with an auto insurance policy that didn't meet your needs, even though it seemed to at first.
Back to the present, the small print is still very important, but the internet has made it not so small. At the touch of a button, it is now possible to make meaningful and accurate comparisons of exactly what two car insurance companies offer with their policies.
You still "shop around," but you do it at your own pace and from the comfort of your own home.
In this way, the internet has made it much easier to find the best car insurance than it was in the past. It has also made sure that the policy you buy is the best one for you and your situation.
