Anonymous Insurance Quote?
Okay so there is quite the hoopla in the auto insurance world in marketing with the 'Anonymous Insurance Quote' idea. This one sets off red flags for me. Not that it is someone trying to get information from you that they shouldn't have, but that people are giving up that information without realizing it.
The thing is that the great majority of people are beginning to grasp the concept of protecting their personal information and that is a good thing. But lets be real here if a company is offering you an anonymous insurance quote it is going to lead to one of two outcomes.
Outcome 1
You will receive a base anonymous quote which will not at all apply to you. You will get the ridiculously low quote to suck you in. Once you bite the company will then ask for your information and that ridiculously low quote will fly right out of the window. That's because Insurance companies base the price you pay for insurance on several factors including your credit history and driving record. Someone who has tickets and accidents in their driver's history will pay more than someone with a clean driving record. But notice that while they initial claim is that the 'quote' is anonymous, they got you to give up your information to verify that quote and it's not so anonymous anymore is it? But all in all it's still pretty straightforward because at some point the company did ask you to provide the information.
Outcome 2
This is more troubling to me than Outcome one because most people will assume that this quote is actually anonymous when it is not. The company will not ask for your name in this case, instead they will ask you for the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) of your vehicle.
Every vehicle produced has a unique identification number. Consider it a car 'fingerprint'. Now when you go down to register your vehicle, The Department of Motor Vehicles will record the name of the owner, Driver's License Number and other personal information belonging to the owner into their database. That information is all readily available by querying the VIN. So when you give up your VIN, you are granting access to all of the information that you are assuming that you are protecting by getting an anonymous quote.
The moral of the story, do not be lulled into a false sense of security by the words 'Anonymous Quote'. Even if you are never asked to give your name, That quote will still have to be based on your own personal information to be accurate and the insurance company will get it one way or another.
The thing is that the great majority of people are beginning to grasp the concept of protecting their personal information and that is a good thing. But lets be real here if a company is offering you an anonymous insurance quote it is going to lead to one of two outcomes.
Outcome 1
You will receive a base anonymous quote which will not at all apply to you. You will get the ridiculously low quote to suck you in. Once you bite the company will then ask for your information and that ridiculously low quote will fly right out of the window. That's because Insurance companies base the price you pay for insurance on several factors including your credit history and driving record. Someone who has tickets and accidents in their driver's history will pay more than someone with a clean driving record. But notice that while they initial claim is that the 'quote' is anonymous, they got you to give up your information to verify that quote and it's not so anonymous anymore is it? But all in all it's still pretty straightforward because at some point the company did ask you to provide the information.
Outcome 2
This is more troubling to me than Outcome one because most people will assume that this quote is actually anonymous when it is not. The company will not ask for your name in this case, instead they will ask you for the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) of your vehicle.
Every vehicle produced has a unique identification number. Consider it a car 'fingerprint'. Now when you go down to register your vehicle, The Department of Motor Vehicles will record the name of the owner, Driver's License Number and other personal information belonging to the owner into their database. That information is all readily available by querying the VIN. So when you give up your VIN, you are granting access to all of the information that you are assuming that you are protecting by getting an anonymous quote.
The moral of the story, do not be lulled into a false sense of security by the words 'Anonymous Quote'. Even if you are never asked to give your name, That quote will still have to be based on your own personal information to be accurate and the insurance company will get it one way or another.
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