Quote:
Originally Posted by lip277
A simple way it was explained to me a while back - The more you see advertising for an insurance company, the less desirable they are to have.
Not totally true necessarily, but an interesting rule of thumb.
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It's all about the distribution channel. Direct sellers like Geico and Progressive spend hundreds of millions in marketing to create buzz and awareness, but you know what? They still have a lower overall expense ratio and lower rates than most other carriers. The carriers that sell through independent agents focus more on selling business insurance and let the agents do marketing to get customers for personal insurance. But you know what? The money they aren't spending on TV ads, they are paying out in very healthy agent commissions to pay them for their time and effort generating business.
At the end of the day, I wouldn't let a TV ad turn you off. But I'd also be very cautious about buying from Gecko or Flo. There isn't any one right answer- the rates are so different for everyone that what works for you will be different than what works for someone else.