‘Shopping for Car Insurance’

In response to “Shopping Around for Car Insurance: It’s ‘Potluck’ ” (June 24).

As an independent insurance agent, I can understand why, given the information listed in your article, agents from the same company would come up with different rates.

The information given in your article represents about two-thirds of the information required to give an accurate quote. For example, the rates quoted for one company listed were for their ultra-preferred program and their standard program. Which program the applicant qualifies for depends on additional information, such as: prior insurance history (including comprehensive losses), stability (how many addresses in past 3-5 years), any other licensed residents in the household, any major violations ever, (not just in the past 3 years), whether the car is garaged at night or left on the street.

Every insurance company has guidelines as to an applicant’s acceptability. Some agents may quote the lowest rate and assume the additional information, when known, will not disqualify the applicant for the rate quoted. Other agents may assume the worst and quote the higher rate--then amend the quote when all the required information is known.

Another factor that wasn’t considered is that an agent listed under Kemper, Hartford, Farmers, etc., in the Yellow Pages may also represent other companies and/or may have lost his appointment with that company and is quoting a rate for a different company. I know for a fact that depending upon the additional information I would need to quote an accurate rate, the applicant you describe in the article may fit into any one of four programs Mercury offers--or not qualify at all!

The point is, Carmen Gonzales of the California Public Interest Group makes it sound like it’s utterly hopeless for the average person to find the best rate available to him/her, when that is not the case at all.

If people would just expend the little effort it takes to make half a dozen calls to a few direct writers as well as a few independent agents who generally represent several companies, they would probably be able to find a better rate than they currently are paying for their auto insurance. And if they don’t find a better rate, at least the effort would reassure them that they are not being ripped-off.

KAREN A. SARASALO

Manhattan Beach