Offline Vs Online Car Insurance
If you are planning to buy or renew your car insurance policy soon, odds are high that you would be confused between the online or offline routes.
Offline car insurance purchase is a process where you buy the policy through an insurance agent or the insurer directly by visiting its office. Meanwhile, online car insurance involves buying the policy electronically over the Internet through the insurer’s official website or app.
While the offline car insurance purchase is the traditional way of buying insurance and invokes more trust as it is the tried and tested method, online car insurance purchase attracts buyers due to convenience and better pricing.
Let’s take a look at the key differences between the offline and online way of buying car insurance in order to help you make an informed decision.
Differences between buying car insurance online vs agent in India
Convenience: The online way of purchasing car insurance is a lot more convenient as it can be done 24x7 throughout the year right from the comfort of your home. Meanwhile, for offline purchases, you can meet the insurer or agents only during office hours on working days.
The length of the process: The offline insurance purchase process is comparatively lengthy. It may involve multiple meetings with the insurer/agent for sharing forms, discussing various plans and submitting final documents, etc. Whereas the online car insurance process can be completed within a span of few minutes to few hours as form downloads, submissions, comparisons, etc., can be done over the Internet itself.
Premiums: The premiums for offline car insurance policies are usually higher than online policies as the overhead costs are much higher if an insurer maintains an office and staff to deal with customers. Meanwhile, online policies neither have much infrastructure to maintain nor any commission to pay to agents or intermediaries. Hence, they are cheaper.
Comparison among various plans: Comparing different policies by different insurers offline is an extremely tough and time-consuming job as it requires multiple visits to offices of different insurers. In contrast, online comparison is simple. You just need to visit the aggregator’s website to check the features and premium quotes of different plans by different insurers. And all the information would be available at just one click.
Transparency: The offline method of buying car insurance lacks some transparency as you are dependent on one person for all the important information. Any inefficiency or poor intent at the agent’s end can directly result in you making a bad decision. Whereas, when you purchase a policy online, you have access to all the important information on the insurer’s website itself. It is much more credible and well-detailed. Read through the details and make an informed decision.
Buying car insurance online vs offline: Which is better?
Going by the differences mentioned above, it is safe to conclude that buying car insurance online is a better way as it saves time, energy and money. If you are comfortable with online purchases and use e-commerce websites frequently, your car insurance policy should also be bought online.
But for those who are not tech-savvy and still uncomfortable using the Internet, none of the advantages offered by online policies may look appealing. For them, what’s more attractive is simpler access to information and guided buying. Therefore, such customers may still prefer the offline route for purchasing car insurance.
So, assess your requirements and your comfort level with the new technology to make a decision on whether you should buy car insurance online or offline.
Disclaimer: The above information is indicative in nature. For more details on the risk factor, terms and conditions, please refer to the Sales Brochure and Policy Wordings carefully before concluding a sale.