Finance Discussed

One of the most standard phrases in business these days is “Let the buyer beware” and this is exactly what you need with cheap insurance quotes. It used to be that you would have to physically go to each insurance company and sit down with an agent to get an insurance quote, but today you can do it online or over the phone and you need to use caution when looking at cheap insurance quotes. Don’t get caught up with a quote for a low monthly payment because, unless you are careful, it can end up costing you big time down the road.

As with most businesses these days, competition in the insurance business is tough and you need to be on the lookout for companies and agents that are using dishonest tactics to get your money. You need to know that the company providing you coverage and the company selling you a policy may not be one and the same. This is not a ‘buy here , pay here’ business, so the people you have to deal with once you sign a policy may be completely different than the agent who sold it to you. It is always a good idea to investigate all the companies who service your potential insurance policy with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) for complaints.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. There are a lot of insurance companies and insurance agents who do provide good, honest service and have you, the customer in mind, but there are also people who are driven by greed and will use shady, dishonest and unethical techniques just to take your money. One of the ways these people will draw you in is with a dramatically low insurance quote, which they get by applying every available discount, even the ones you don’t qualify for. When the policy is written, the discounts that you are not eligible for are not applied and your payment is significantly higher than the quote. Your old insurance is canceled, the policy is written and they are counting on you just paying and staying. Usually, they will blame you for not qualifying for the discounts, which many will just accept.

You are taken in by the low quote and the plan is that once your old policy is canceled, your old insurance company will not want to take you back, so in order to keep your coverage you are stuck paying them a whole lot more money than you had originally thought. When the technique is analyzed, it is a completely dishonest way of doing business, but it works or they wouldn’t do it. You have become their customer by default.

The old phrase about if it looks too good, it probably is, goes right along with the old Latin phrase Caveat Emptor or ‘buyer beware. Look for things like an unrealistically high deductible and discounts or exceptions that don’t apply to you. Some examples are a multiple discount in a quote for a single policy, or a good driver discount and you still haven’t paid off that speeding ticket from last month. These are warning signs and if you see them you should run, not walk, but run somewhere else to get insurance because dealing with someone like that will cost you plenty. Knowing what to look for is the first step to avoiding losing your money, so be sure to look very carefully at cheap insurance quotes.

Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Insurance Provider who specialises in Online Insurance Quotes.