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Am looking at this option for our soon to be redesigned web site and was wondering if anyone here offers instant quotes on their web site.

I was wondering what vendor/interface you use and how happy you are with it including the quality of the leads.

Any help would be appreciated.

I don't offer instant quotes on my web site, but I am appointed with companies that offer instant quotes from their web site and if the propsect so chooses, that quote can be transferred into my agency for me to sell.

From a lot of experience, I can say that at the agency level, this is dangerous to allow complete quoting to the general public because of input errors and a lack of information regarding claim history, square footage for dwellings, coverage concerns, driving records and vehicle usage (mileage declarations) and household drivers.

About 50% of the time, I'm faced with telling the prospect that the rate they generated is not the rate that I can offer...why?, well, you say you only drive the car 3000 miles per year, but you work 25 miles from your home....you didn't declare that accident from last year where you ran into the tree....your home is 2500 square feet and you've selected $92000 in building coverage...and so on, and so on...anyone who's been in the business for any length of time can finish my sentence.

I'm happy to invite people to call or email to request quotes...I'll do that all day long if necessary (I wish)...but I need to control the conversation when it comes to company placement and risk analysis for my various companies. And I hate presenting as a bait and switch agency when the prospect generates one quote number and I correctly come out with a higher number after information is uncovered.

Yes, those are exactly my concerns. That's why I don't subscribe to company generated leads. I remember getting in a 45 minute discussion with a guy that INSISTED his three vehicles in the household only got a total of 2,500 miles between them. The conversation ended with me having to simply say, "We won't do that, it would not be fair to Company X nor would it be fair to Company X's other policyholders who are rated correctly. However, Company X has many agents in this area and I am sure some of them will attempt to accomodate your request".

This is why one of the reasons I am seeking out alternatives to the one vendor (WebFSC) that I have found that does my companies BUT will give some additional controls over the data that is entered (for example, using a formula to calculate annual miles based on commute miles). I could do that with FSC's Stealth Rater but I don't want to spend the thousands upon thousands of dollars that FSC says it will take to hire someone to code around their engine.

You're correct by saying that the information a prospect place is different from reality. In my opinion it is a waste of time, as the prospect key the information thinking that whatever he/she has put on will go to the agent and the agent will not take the time to confirm it; however, when the agent or a staff member calls to confirm or inquire about the additional information needed to process the prospect request, the whole scenario changes.

I spent some time with an individual who quoted his home and auto on the company's website and when i contacted him, there was a lot of different information and he was bragging that another Agent was willing to write the business in the way he input in the system, I told him that he was free to go to the other agent but my rate and services was what I was able to offer and that would not change.

Three months down the road, he called again because he was not happy with the manner in which the other agent have done his policies by increasing his premium and he was looking to see if I would be able to lower the premium on his home by using what he had input and my answer was "I appreaciate that you think about our agency to take care of your business but unfortunately we cannot do what you are asking us to do and I would very much appreciate if you allow us to get back to what we were doing before you call as we need to take care of business in a proper way". That's the reason by which I do not use Company's quotes and when a quote is sent to the agency, we call the prospect right away and inquire about the information we need and we are very clear stating that what they put in the system is just partial information as it does not reflect an exact scenario.

It seems that the fact that such a service "generates contact between the agent and the prospect" is a good thing in and of itself. How is it bad to have more leads to work, even if you don't wind up selling them? As we all know, the more "contacts" that are made, the better the odds of writing more business.

Rochambeau wrote:Am looking at this option for our soon to be redesigned web site and was wondering if anyone here offers instant quotes on their web site.

I was wondering what vendor/interface you use and how happy you are with it including the quality of the leads.

Any help would be appreciated.

Okay, this isn't a plug and no, it's not Astonish Results. If you're thinking of re-doing your website and are looking into instant quoting (PR - Personal Lines Rater), then it might benefit you to look up Agencies Online (http://www.agenciesonline.biz). Speak with George Nordhaus (888) 985-3331 x210. He's been around the biz a long time and works with another person that ran a very large independent insurance agency (Val), so they're insurance people. We don't use them (yet) so this isn't a paid advertisement or anything, but we're seriously considering having them do everything. They seem like straight up people and have a more custom-taylored approach (in my opinion) then Astonish. From what I know, Astonish has a ton of money backing them; they're a machine, templated, cookie-cutter, etc. Probably works very well for some people, so I guess you should go with your gut.

That's my two cents. Best of luck!