Have you ever gone online to get a quote and after you typed in all your details, you got a price you were happy with only to see it went up after your purchased the policy? You shouldn’t be surprised, and here are a few reasons why:

Cookies

One possibility is that after you’ve shown interest, they’re going to charge you more. If you’ve been to a few insurance websites, that information will be stored in your computer’s browser setting called “cookies”. Cookies basically learn who you are and what you search for. It is great for remembering information such as showing you certain advertisements if you do online shopping, or it will help the page load faster if you frequent certain websites, but in this case, it may be hurting you more than helping. When looking for quotes on insurance websites, use a private browser or switch to “incognito” mode to disable cookies from being saved while you’re browsing. This way, the websites won’t be able to tell if you’ve been looking and can’t use that information against you.

Glitches/Human Error

Yes, sometimes it happens! Either the website you’re on malfunctions, or maybe you may have entered something incorrectly while filling out the application. For example, VIN numbers are a tricky, incoherent mess of letters and numbers that can easily get transposed. While filling everything out, make sure you double and triple check your inputs for spelling errors and mistakes.

“Teaser Quotes”

Lastly, when looking online for auto insurance, all you’re doing is putting your basic information in a “calculator” to determine your price. The problem with that, is that insurance carriers have so many rating factors others than what you enter in. Driving history is a huge rating factor, and it costs insurance companies and agencies money to obtain that information from the DMV/RMV. To satisfy the hundreds of thousands of people looking for quotes each day, that would cost millions of dollars just for drivers MVR (Motor Vehicle Reports) when there is no commitment to purchase from the insurer. This is the difference between a quote and final rate. A quote is always subject to change, whereas the final rate is the price you’re really going to pay when all is said and done.

Speaking to an agent is really the only way to get a final rate, so if you’d like to get a price for your insurance with the assurance of knowing it won’t change, give us a call and speak to one of our agents today!