Researching Progressive Car Insurance

Added: 02/25/2006

Everyone has heard about Progressive and how they claim their rates are lower than anyone else's. We have also heard them proclaim to provide quotes from other carriers right on their site. How well can we trust that? How can we know that they are telling us the truth? After all, why would an insurance company put the correct competitor's rates on their own website?

When you think about Progressive and their various claims about having the lowest rates, it tends to make one wonder how much of it is true, and how much of it is simply sales hype. It makes one laugh to hear them proclaim that they will offer four free competitors' rate quotes on their site. Of course, they will! The question is whether they will be accurate. After all, do you think they are really going to tell you that any company at all has a lower price than they do, even if it's true? It doesn't make good business sense for Progressive to tell you anything else except they have the lowest rates of any other insurance company. The Progressive Online Car Insurance site has one purpose in mind: to secure more policyholders for Progressive, and it can only do that if the people visiting their site believe without a doubt that they are getting the very best rate that they can get.

How can a person be sure? You are, after all, taking the time to visit the Progressive Online Car Insurance site with the hope of finding a good rate for insuring your vehicle. The thing to consider primarily is not to take the word of a competitor about how much other companies charge. What you decide should be based on your own research of other companies, not on what Progressive tells you other companies charge. It's ludicrous to even think that they would tell you the truth about the rate competitors charge and would certainly give you a false impression of other companies in general. The sad part is that people who are insured with the competitors already know what they are paying, so if there is something misquoted, they will know in a heartbeat.

How do you avoid the pitfall of getting an inaccurate quote? Obviously, you call other carriers yourself to get rate quotes. Even if what is posted on the Progressive site is accurate, it may not relate to your individual case. The rates quoted on the website are based on information that you provide, but when it comes down to actually making the change in insurance, other factors are taken into consideration such as your driving record, and with some insurance companies, your credit rating. Yes, unbelievably, some companies base your insurance rate on how you pay your bills, and worse yet, the insurance commissioner's office in the states, has allowed this to happen. Why? Because the insurance industry has provided some kind of statistics that "provide evidence" that people with bad credit file more claims. How many insurance companies use this criteria remains to be seen, but again, this is something that is not accessible when you are simply getting a quote from Progressive as you surf the Internet. Likewise, they do not have access to your driving record at that time, and if you are not honest in the information you give, the quote you receive is not going to be accurate, either.

Since any number of factors can affect the price you will be quoted for insurance, it's not going to be accurate unless you are sitting in front of an agent, or at least have initiated a true attempt to secure insurance. Without a motor vehicle report, the quote you receive is not going to be accurate if you have not been honest about what is on your driving record. That's why they are called "quotes" because any number of factors can affect them in an upward or downward spiral. Do your homework and make sure you give only accurate information so that you will receive an accurate quote whether it be from Progressive or another company.

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