Posted On: December 24, 2008, 1:07 pm CST

Posted By: Happy Birthday, Jesus Christ!

Flattened_Lizard - I don't think anyone would dispute that competition is good; as long as it is fair competition. Although I'm sure some agents would love to see Progressive go away I'm also sure they know that isn't going to happen and they are not asking for Progressive to be completely shut-down only that if they are going to offer premium comparisons that they do so in a truthful, accurate manner. We also know that accomplishing that is almost impossible given the myriad of rating factors each company uses.

As far as a consumer sitting down with their current dec page and comparing coverage and also knowing what all the numbers mean that is a bit of a stretch in my experience. I cannot count how many times a customer comes in and A. doesn't know what a Dec page is and/or B. when asked what their coverage limits are they respond "I have full coverage" and that is the extent of their knowledge of their auto insurance coverage.

The typical online consumer today has zero knowledge of insurance coverage, what the limits mean and what it means to them if they have a loss. Why? Because they are trained by advertising campaigns to look only at price when shopping for virtually any product on the market today. Price is everything to today's consumer and unfortunately when it comes to insurance products it is not always the lowest premium that is the best option for the insured.