One possible answer might be that these "helpful" companies are less honest than they claim to be. I called Progressive for a quote, and the lowest quotes they gave me for strict liability auto coverage was in the $50/month range, roughly in the same range they were offering. They didn't mention Nationwide, which was less than $30 dollars. So they get to earn your good will by appearing to be "helpful," without informing you of any really competitive prices.
>From: john hull <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: insurance quotes >Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2002 12:48:49 -0700 (PDT) > >Howdy, > >It seems like I've seen advertisements for insurance >companies who'll offer quotes from their competitors, >even if their competitor's quotes are cheaper. I can >think of two reasons why a firm would do this. First >would be the warm-fuzzy model, where the company is >banking on goodwill resulting from helping the >consumer shop around. They can't be all bad if they >help me out rather than just make a buck. > >The second would be the better-actuary model, where >the firm is betting that its actuaries (& their >models) are better than the competitors', so the firm >believes that the competitors are actually making bad >bets and will ultimately go out of business or adjust >so that their prices go up. > >Do these sound reasonable, or do you think there is a >better reason. If so, what? > >Curiously yours, >jsh > >===== >"...for no one admits that he incurs an obligation to another merely >because that other has done him no wrong." >-Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, Discourse 16. > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes >http://finance.yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com
