US auto insurance consumers submitted requests for 32 million online quotes and purchased a record 2 million policies online in 2007, according to a comScore study of online activity for the auto insurance market.

The number of quotes requested online increased 15%, and the number of auto insurance policies purchased online increased 37%, from 2006 to 2007.

The internet has become an important factor in the auto insurance industry in recent years, with consumers requesting more than 100 million auto insurance rate quotes between 2004 and 2007, comScore said.
 
Consumers originally turned to the internet to educate themselves about auto insurance and compare prices; beginning in 2006, however, there was a shift in consumer behavior, resulting in an increase in online purchases of policies, comScore said.

E-Servicing Growth

Online policy and account management - e-servicing - also underwent growth as insurers and customers began to realize time- and cost-saving benefits, comScore said.
 
To evaluate consumer changes in e-servicing, the study compared the number of e-servicing visits to seven leading auto insurer sites in 2007 versus 2006.

Total e-servicing visits increased 15%, driven by a 20% increase in visits to policy-management sections of the sites, indicating consumers’ growing comfort with completing more complex transactions - such as adding cars to policies - online, comScore said.

About the study: The 2008 comScore Online Automobile Insurance Report (reg. reqd.) is scheduled to be released April 28, in conjunction with the 2008 Auto Insurance Report National Conference.