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There has been an 87% rise in the number of people who have bought
their car insurance over the Internet in the last year, making it
by far the most popular online financial purchase. Now financial
intermediary, elephant.co.uk reckons it is only a matter
of time before the Internet replaces the phone as the most popular
way to get insured.
Research company, Mintel, estimates that 15% of motorists bought
their insurance over the Internet in 2004, up from 8% in 2003. That
equates to nearly 4 million car owners.
It believes that by the end of the decade 50% of us could be buying
insurance online, but elephant.co.uk, the UK's first completely
online insurance provider of cars, thinks it will be as many as 80% of motorists
by 2010.
Managing director of elephant.co.uk, Tanzie Oliver, explained:
"Shopping for insurance online wins hands down over the phone.
It is faster, more convenient and most importantly cheaper. People
like the fact you can compare prices quickly on the Internet and
that the premiums are lower too."
Perhaps not surprisingly it is young people who prefer to use the
Internet to buy their insurance online. In fact 28% of motorists
aged 25-34 did so last year whereas only 2% of the over 65s did,
but even that figure has doubled since the previous year.
Tanzie Oliver, said: "Although buying insurance online is
more popular with the young and with men, the fact that it has nearly
doubled in the last year suggests it is going to rocket in the coming
years as consumers feel more comfortable shopping online.
"I strongly believe that within two or three years the Internet
will be most popular channel for buying car insurance. Just as the
telephone revolutionised car insurance in the eighties so the Internet
is revolutionising it in this decade."
elephant.co.uk has grown by over 100,000 customers itself
in the last year, and now insures nearly 400,000 motorists. However
even it realises not everyone is happy buying insurance online.
It offers its customers the opportunity to get a quote online and
then telephone to actually buy the policy.
Issue date: 21-06-05
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