Price is no-doubt one of the key factors in choosing a particular automobile insurance company over others. Brand recognition is important too, as many people go for the providers they know. At times, motorists may unconsciously choose to get quotes only from insurers they know and this can put name recognition ahead of price. If they were to get three quotes and decide, it doesn’t leave room for many smaller and less known carriers.
Auto insurance companies strive to be memorable with catchy jingles, phrases, characters and messages in their advertisements in order to make sure shoppers recognize them even long after they stop a particular campaign. This works because often people don’t necessarily process how they know the name but recognizing it affects their selection.
Many surveys show that name awareness is one of the key reasons for choosing a particular auto insurer. One of the studies carried out in the UK by Gravytrain offers some insight into the price comparison and brand recognition question. They surveyed over 2,000 vehicle insurance shoppers.
The results show that about 35% of those interviewed choose the names they recognize. On the other hand, about 20% of vehicle owners always compare prices and go for the lowest quote. Others don’t check for alternatives often.
One of the most important findings of the study is that these figures quickly change depending on the age and background of the participant. For example, 43% of 55+ year old motorists always buy from brands they know. In contrast, 31% of 18 – 24 year old drivers are likely to choose an automobile insurer with the lowest quote.
This may be to do with differences in computer savviness, as well as social and economic status of each group. Clearly 55+ year old drivers must have come across a lot more companies throughout their lives than the 18 – 24 age bracket. For example, if they get 5 quotes from different sources, they probably recognize 2 – 3 of them that would make their choice easier.
The study finds that people with lower income are more likely to choose cheap car insurance quotes. This is probably one finding that is hard to argue with; people with limited budget look at price first.
This point of “what to look at first” is very important in what you let influence your automobile insurance policy purchase decision. Unconsciously, people may start choosing the company before they even carry out their comparison shopping.
For example, if you start getting your quotes directly from automobile insurers, you may start with the companies you already know or heard of before. Say, you get a quote from Progressive, State Farm and GEICO as they are well known brands and you find one of them to be a lot cheaper than the other and within your budget. You may not feel the need to get any more quotes and make a decision.
You can see how important brand recognition is in the above example and how it can derail your comparison shopping. It doesn’t matter that there are many great companies with even better coverage and prices in your state like Auto-Owners, Farm Bureau or Erie because you won’t get to see their prices because you didn’t get quotes from them.
Car insurance price comparison is a very important process and you can save more money if you hold on making a quick decision or start choosing a company before you have all the facts in front of you. Getting a few quotes from various types of companies, online and through agents is the first step. When you give more carriers a chance to quote for you the higher your chance of finding the best value provider.
In conclusion, when people are aware of a name they don’t necessarily think why. It may simply be through TV or other advertisements instead of recommendations from friends and family. Still, it is name recognition and it sells policies. However, you shouldn’t let it distort your vehicle insurance shopping process. Ideally, you should get quotes until you have several viable options within a similar price range. Then, it would be fine to choose one of the companies based on brand recognition.