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If you polled American motorists on their least favorite part of owning a car, the chances are high that—aside from having to pay for gas—shopping for auto insurance would be at the top of the list. From big names like Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, and State Farm to smaller insurance carriers, shopping for car insurance can be incredibly draining.
Just because most people don’t like talking to insurance agents and comparing policies doesn’t mean it’s not important, though. Even so, a staggering one in eight drivers in the United States isn’t insured. That number may be surprising, especially when so many states mandate coverage. However, when you consider the costs and tediousness of dealing with an insurance agency, that number starts to come into focus a bit more.
You might wonder if there’s a better way to get auto insurance quotes. Thankfully, the answer is yes! With a website called EverQuote, you can quickly get matched with insurance products that align with your needs as a consumer. Learn more about the ins and outs of the comparison platform and marketplace in this EverQuote review.
In this article
What is EverQuote?
EverQuote was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2011 and is an online insurance marketplace. According to its website, the company’s mission is to “help people protect life’s most important assets - their family, property, and future by simplifying the experience of shopping for insurance.”
Seth Birnbaum and Tomas Revesz initially founded EverQuote to help customers compare car insurance policies. However, since its inception, the company has evolved to include other categories of insurance comparison, such as health insurance, home insurance, life insurance, and renters insurance.
While it’s nice to get online quotes for various insurance providers simultaneously, EverQuote’s bread and butter are still car insurance quotes. If you’re tired of comparing multiple car insurance companies in different web browser tabs, you’ll likely appreciate EverQuote’s quick and intuitive comparison tool.
As a company, EverQuote generally receives good marks from various review aggregates and organizations. For example, Clearsurance collects customer reviews on insurance companies and gives EverQuote an overall rating of 3.7. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) ranks the company B.
Getting started with EverQuote is pretty straightforward. You start by navigating to its website and then select the kind of insurance policy you want. In this example, we’ll look at auto insurance policies with the platform.
You'll enter your zip code after selecting the policy you want to receive quotes on. This is important to input accurately since EverQuote matches you with local insurance agents and companies who will fulfill your quote request.
Once you’ve input your zip code, you’ll provide more information to help accurately match you with the right insurance quotes. This includes information about your vehicles, such as their make, model, and year, and if you lease, finance, or own your car.
You’ll also answer questions that may be more specific to your situation, like the average yearly mileage on your car and whether you’re looking for the state minimum coverage or a typical, lower-than-typical, or higher-than-typical amount of coverage.
Some of the other questions you’ll answer while filling out your EverQuote request include:
If you’d like to add a second vehicle (And save an additional 20%)
Whether or not you’ve had auto insurance in the past 30 days
Who your current insurer is
How long you’ve continuously had insurance
How many drivers you need on your policy
Your gender
Your marital status
Your highest level of education completed
Your occupation
Your credit score
The number of at-fault accidents you’ve had in the past three years
The number of tickets you’ve had in the past three years
Whether or not you’ve had a DUI conviction in the past three years or need an SR-22 form
Whether or not you’ve had your license suspended or revoked in the past three years
Your date of birth (as well as any other drivers who will be on the policy)
Your first and last name (as well as any other drivers who will be on the policy)
In my case, I was also asked if I’d like to receive home insurance policy quotes. Bundling your auto and home insurance together allows you to save even more money, so if you’re open to the option, it is worth considering.
EverQuote offers a few different ways for you to receive your quotes. You can receive some quotes online and opt to have personalized quotes delivered to your inbox or discuss your options over the phone. EverQuote ensures you know that if you’re interested in the maximum savings, you’ll want to get quotes in all three ways.
Once you’ve submitted your form, pulling your insurance quotes only takes a few seconds. In this example, I received four different quotes, with some of their top features listed for easy comparison. To get more information, all you have to do is click “View My Quote.” If you opted in for email quotes or phone calls, you should expect to hear from insurers in a few business days. Email quotes generally arrive quite quickly.
How much does EverQuote cost?
Auto insurance is costly enough without paying an intermediary service just to improve the user experience. You’ll be glad to know that EverQuote is provided completely free of charge to any consumer interested in using the platform.
Filling out your information in EverQuote’s form takes a little under ten minutes, but it saves you a lot of having to re-fill in form after form with multiple insurance providers. Prefilling that information before contacting you can save you a lot of time, especially if you plan to opt-in to phone calls or emails from insurance agents.
Simple comparison tools
You won’t be able to see prices from every insurance company, but you will see important aspects of each policy highlighted as you compare insurance quotes. This is a much more streamlined approach than having to look at multiple tabs on your computer or take detailed notes when talking to agents over the phone.
Ability to connect with licensed agents
Need some help comparing your quotes to ensure they’re the right fit for you? EverQuote allows you to chat with a licensed insurance agent via the internet or your phone to break down the results you’ve received.
Who is EverQuote best for?
Consumers strapped for time
If you don’t have the time to input your personal information into multiple insurance websites to get quotes, then EverQuote streamlines this process considerably.
Individuals who want to save money
On average, EverQuote can help save consumers $500 or more yearly on their insurance. In my example in Chicago, that number was $610, or about $50 a month.
People who have just started researching insurance options
While you may have heard of some of the bigger insurance agencies on the market, EverQuote also mixes in some smaller, local options that may be just as worthy of your consideration.
Who shouldn’t use EverQuote?
People with loyalty to a certain insurance company
If you have a positive connection with your insurance agency or agent, it’s unlikely that EverQuote will find much of a compelling reason to switch your insurance.
Consumers who would rather talk to a person
They might be a dying breed, but if you’d like to talk to a human from the get-go, you may not enjoy filling out a form with lots of detailed information about your insurance situation.
Easy to use. Filling out the EverQuote form is straightforward and only takes a few clicks on each page.
Fast. If you’re requesting online quotes, they will come nearly instantaneously. Even quotes from agents via email or telephone are quick to be received.
Provides a range of options. If you head to Google and search “auto insurance” or “home insurance,” the chances are high that you’ll mostly just get ad results and big-name companies. EverQuote provides a mix of insurance providers that are national as well as local.
Cons
Online-only options are limited. In my case, I only received four options when filling out EverQuote’s form with online-only quotes. To get more results, I would have had to opt-in to email or phone communication from insurance companies.
Could result in lots of emails or phone calls. If you do opt-in to emails or phone calls, you may get bombarded with offers and calls from insurance agents. If you’re not prepared for this it can be overwhelming, especially when you’ve already completed your form. Some insurance quotes didn’t properly auto-populate. When I tested the platform and clicked “View Quote,” a screen from EverQuote popped up, letting me know that my information was being transmitted to another insurance agency to auto-populate my quote request on their website. However, in two cases, that information transmission failed.
EverQuote vs. competitors
There aren’t just a few insurance companies on the market, but EverQuote isn’t the only online insurance comparison tool. Here’s how EverQuote stacks up to two other comparison tools:
Comparison Tool
Price
Auto Insurance Comparison
Home Insurance Comparison
Renters Insurance Comparison
Life Insurance Comparison
Health Insurance Comparison
Commercial Insurance Comparison
Live Agents Available
EverQuote
Free
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
The Zebra
Free
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Gabi
Free
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Credible
Free
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
The Zebra
The Zebra is another popular comparison tool for insurance, specifically auto insurance. Like EverQuote, The Zebra is free, online, and features a wide range of insurance policies to compare. Unlike EverQuote, The Zebra doesn’t offer life insurance quotes for comparison, which is a drawback. If you plan to compare more than one type of insurance, it may make sense to use an all-in-one option like EverQuote instead of a website like The Zebra.
Gabi is similar to The Zebra and EverQuote because it is a free online tool with live agent support. However, Gabi misses the mark in the types of insurance you can compare. Rather than offering the suite of options that EverQuote (or, to a lesser extent, The Zebra) does, Gabi focuses on three types of insurance for its customers: auto, home, and renter’s insurance. As such, unless the fact that Experian backs Gabi is a big draw to you, it may be worth considering other options instead.
Credible started with homeowners insurance but now offers auto insurance, renters and homeowners insurance, condo insurance, mobile home insurance, flood insurance, and pet insurance. Its free price comparison tool lets Consumers compare rates and features from over 40 insurance providers.
No. EverQuote is a company with a respectable rating from the Better Business Bureau. To date, the business has processed more than 35 million quote requests. The offers and insurance companies you receive on the platform are 100% legitimate.
How is the data you submit used by EverQuote?
As you probably noted when looking at the list of questions you’re asked when filling out your EverQuote application, a lot of personal information is collected as part of the quote comparison process. EverQuote strictly follows its privacy policy and will never sell or distribute customer information to any third party aside from the insurance agents and companies whose quotes you will be receiving.
How fast does EverQuote process quotes?
EverQuote’s online quote process takes less than a minute. If you opt-in to receive emails or voice calls from insurance agents, it may take a few hours or business days, depending on when you’ve submitted your information.
If you’re trying to get a good deal on insurance, then EverQuote is worth looking into. It allows you to compare quotes from various insurance agencies and quickly evaluate the best option for you and your needs. With positive reviews from consumers and organizations like the Better Business Bureau, you can trust the information you get.
EverQuote is a head above other options for online insurance comparison thanks to the fact that it offers a wide range of insurance options besides just auto, home, and renter’s insurance. On the other hand, you may need to opt-in to emails or phone calls to get the best deals from agencies, which not everyone wants to do. Ultimately, with gas prices still higher than they were a year ago, cutting down on other car-related expenses, such as insurance can be helpful. If that’s something you’d like to do and you’re strapped for time, EverQuote can help.
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Brent Ervin-Eickhoff is a Chicago-based writer, stage director, and filmmaker with a background in digital marketing and content creation. In addition to Joy Wallet, Brent has written for Complex, Volkswagen, HowlRound, Picture this Post, and Third Coast Review, among others. He currently serves as the Associate Director of Marketing for Content Creation at Court Theatre at the University of Chicago. Brent graduated from Ball State University with Academic Honors in Writing.
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