Anyone Can Use the Phone to Make Money

We've long known about the parallels between insurance companies and mortgage companies. Here's a reminder with a personal connection.

I called several insurance companies for quotes on my truck. With the same coverage details for each quote, I was able to lower my insurance and learned a few crucial details about insurance pricing.

Seven business days have passed since I first contacted my existing insurance company, GEICO. Two more calls to the confirmed correct division, and I still have not had a conversation with anyone there that could provide a revised quote for comparison.

Progressive returned the highest quote I received.

I received the most information from Auto Insurance Specialist – a broker with a local office. From this broker, I received quotes ranging from $506 – $2,231 for a 6-month policy.

There were 23 companies in that pricing range. For the same coverage. What’s the difference? If I ever have a claim, the difference could be the paperwork and response time. There are several parallels between insurance and mortgage. The first is that many mortgage companies are funded by insurance companies. Insurance is the largest source of investing in mortgage loans.

Another parallel : both insurance companies and mortgage companies have customer profile preferences based upon perceived risk. So… some auto insurance companies accept only high risk drivers – and some accept only low risk drivers.

Both also have sliding scales of commission payout to the brokers. In addition to the non-refundable broker fee ($75.) the broker will receive 10, 12.5, 13.5, 15, 16, 16.5, 18 or 20 percent commission from the insurance company for signing a policy with a driver.

Mercury Insurance provided the lowest price and the highest commission to the broker. It was win-win in my view.

I saved 131 dollars over GEICO. And, my phone calls were returned.