Zip Code Calculator Compares Car Insurance Rates
Online Shopping Tool for Lowest US Auto Insurance Premiums
Mar 16, 2009
Most online car insurance rate calculators require that consumers spend at least 15 minutes entering personal, vehicle and driver record details.
Thousands of auto insurance websites feature rate calculators as a way to build prospective customer lists. Online visitors are usually subjected to 8 or more follow-up sales calls before they see a rate comparison.
Earlier in 2009, Insurance.com introduced a car insurance rate widget as part of a consumer education test project.
This analysis examines the advantages and limitations of this new insurance rate comparison tool.
Rate Widget Data Entry
After specifying whether or not they are currently insured, rate widget users enter a maximum of 3 items. Those who are insured enter their 5-digit zip code, number of cars and number of drivers. Uninsured participants provide only their zip codes.
Within seconds, the rate widget displays a range of average, lowest and highest monthly premiums for drivers in the state corresponding with the consumer's zip code. With a mouse-click, users can choose to see annual premiums.
Premiums shown are based on actual premium quotes from more than a dozen leading auto insurance companies for the most recent 3-month period.
Auto Insurance Rate Comparisons for 25 Major US Cities
Using the rate widget, the following list of premiums was based on zip codes for the downtown areas of 25 of America’s most densely populated cities. Results are sorted by cities that have the lowest annual rates. Compiling this list of quoted premiums took less than 10 minutes.
- Columbus (zip code 43215) … US$392 to $2518, average price is $1103
- Milwaukee (53202) … $424 to $2768, $1237
- Kansas City (64105) … $428 to $2856, $1321
- Charlotte (28202) … $439 to $3460, $1379
- Memphis (38103) … $444 to $2786, $1286
- Los Angeles (90013) … $462 to $3520, $1483
- Indianapolis (46224) … $463 to $2898, $1313
- Albuquerque (87102) … $478 to $3462, $1475
- Denver (80202) … $490 to $3123, $1345
- Atlanta (30312) … $502 to $2942, $1420
- Chicago (60610) … $511 to $2714, $1276
- Phoenix (85013) … $522 to $3338, $1540
- Oklahoma City (73102) … $524 to $3556, $1561
- Philadelphia (19107) … $552 to $4514, $1846
- Portland (97205) … $548 to $3242, $1445
- Houston (75207) … $553 to $3517, $1562
- Boston (02205) … $585 to $3559, $1581
- Seattle (98104) … $589 to $3472, $1590
- Las Vegas (89169) … $668 to $4000, $1770
- Jacksonville (32207) … $709 to $3682, $1663
- Baltimore (21297) … $710 to $4306, $1906
- Louisville (40202) … $733 to $3399, $1640
- Detroit (48227) … $746 to $3798, $1712
- New York (10001) … $764 to $5750, $2559
- Washington, DC (20005) … $914 to $6142, $2577.
Advantages of a Streamlined Rate Comparison Calculator
The online widget is extremely fast, requiring a maximum of 5 seconds for user input. The calculator is also fun to use. The graphical design resembles a slot machine that spins for the highest car insurance savings based on zip code.
Premium data displayed by the rate widget reflect actual rates that are updated daily. Therefore, rate widget comparisons reflect current data from the hundreds of thousands of online auto insurance quotes that Insurance.com processes every 3 months.
Another advantage is that the rate widget enables online shoppers to see a range of quoted premiums from dozens of reputable insurance carriers without disclosing any private information or spending more time to obtain a more detailed quote. For example, an executive who is offered a job transfer from Chicago to Jacksonville can get an idea of the different ranges of car insurance premium costs simply by entering in the zip code from the home and then the destination city.
Rate Widget Limitations
The rate widget displays one set of results for all zip codes from the same state. Therefore, users can’t compare premium savings by zip code within a given state.
In the U.S. auto insurance industry, rates change daily. Yet the rate widget doesn’t provide a historical record of quoted premiums necessary to determine car insurance costs trends.
Only one day after this article was published, the above list of auto insurance quotes by zip code was outdated.
To quickly find today’s range of quoted rates, online shoppers have to re-enter their zip codes.
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