Sounds like a good time to give Your Portland Insurance Agent a ring.
(from the Wall Street Journal)
Auto insurers that sell policies directly to consumers say they’re able to offer lower prices because they don’t need to pay agents commissions, but with car-insurance prices falling in many states amid a price war, agent-oriented insurers could be gaining an advantage.
A recent study from Conning Research & Consulting Inc. says that as auto-insurance prices fall, the expense of paying commissions — which can average around 10% of the premium — falls too. Meantime, direct insurers’ costs remain stable or rise, bringing direct insurer costs closer to the costs of insurers that sell through agents.
Direct insurers may need to focus their marketing to existing customers and to areas where premiums remain high and populations concentrated, particularly urban markets, which leaves some areas more open to agent-driven insurers.
Consumers value having an agent available to answer questions about coverage and other insurance needs. “Price is important, but it is not the end-all,” said Karen Eckert, assistant vice president of agency distribution at Allstate.
As reported in Adweek
Geico spent $560 million on media in 2006
Just think about that for a second… that’s roughly $2 for every American. There are really only three ways to make up for that kind of capital outlay, make more on investing policy holders premiums, pay out less on claims or provide less customer service. If you can think of any others let me know. So as a consumer do the last two sound like what you want when you set out to insure one of the most likely sources of liability in your life? Insurance is an intangible, but just imagine if you caused an accident, you made a mistake, who do you want to call, your agent or an 800 number?
