Would you buy your car insurance from Google? It seems search engine giant, Google, is poised to begin offering its insurance comparison services by launching a website based in the United States. It is a logical move and follows the launch of a similar service in the U.K, Google Compare, which has been in operation since 2013.
Why would Google be interested in offering auto insurance to U.S. consumers?
Well, a better question is—why not? It already offers consumers travel services such as travel comparison rates and hotel and flight reservation services. Anyone who is searching for something will likely at some point, search for it on Google. So, it makes sense for the company to capitalize on this source of revenue.
In the United States, a company must be licensed to sell insurance to offer insurance comparison services. In preparation for the launch of its U.S. based insurance comparison website, Google has become licensed to sell insurance in 26 states and has purchased CoverHound, a San-Francisco based auto insurance comparison website which already offers auto insurance quotes from well-known auto insurers such as Progressive, Esurance, 21st Century, Travelers, Safeco, The Hartford and more.
CoverHound was founded in 2010 by Basil Enan, who came over from InsWeb, one of the early online insurance comparison websites. It is a Better Business Bureau accredited business with an “A” rating.
CoverHound not only offers auto insurance comparison rates and quotes, but also quotes for homeowners, renters and motorcycle insurance.
The move into the auto insurance industry is a natural progression for Google who is looking to expand revenues and its image as a search engine. Thus we see the company’s offerings of recent years of travel destination comparison, credit card services and mortgage, auto and travel insurance services in the U.K.
Many consumers are using mobile services more and download aps onto their mobile devices such as Amazon and Expedia’s mobile applications for their services. Google has been challenged to come up with similar services to prevent being shut out of the process of searching for and purchasing goods and services altogether. This is evident in data reported by StatCounter Global Stats which show Google’s relevance as a search engine dominant player has declined to 75.2 percent compared to 79.3 percent in December, just one year ago. Granted, Google still far outweighs the competition of other search engines such as Bing and Yahoo. However, the gap does seem to be narrowing.
There are a few things for Google to consider about its move to offer insurance comparison in the U.S. For example, other insurance comparison websites use Google advertising now and Google now may become the competition. Also, there may be resistance from insurance companies not wanting to share too much information for fear that Google may become too great of a competitor.
Google has been working on its expansion into the U.S. auto insurance market now for a few years. You can look for the Google U.S. comparison website to launch in the first quarter of 2015 where you will be able to shop for auto coverage, compare rates from multiple auto insurance carriers and buy your auto policy online. The U.S. entity is known as Google Compare Auto Insurance Services which is currently authorized with several auto insurers including Mercury, MetLife and Workmen’s Auto Insurance.
For the U.S. consumer searching for auto insurance online, it only adds to the options available to shop for and find the best policy value for your dollar. More options rather than fewer are always a good thing for the insurance consumer.
