Esurance offers Facebook discount on car insurance
John Egan
Esurance is giving drivers in Texas and Arizona another reason to “like” Facebook.
The car insurance company, owned by Allstate, is offering drivers in those two states a 10 percent discount on coverage for “liking” Esurance on its Facebook page.
Esurance says the “Like the Save” discount is the first car insurance discount of its kind just for Facebook users, and “is a natural extension of Esurance’s heritage as a company born of the Internet and using the latest technology to better serve customers.”
Company spokesman Danny Miller says Esurance is looking at rolling out the Facebook discount in other states.
‘Liking’ the discount
New as well as existing customers in Texas and Arizona are eligible for the discount, Miller says. New customers simply can “like” the Esurance page on Facebook and obtain an immediate 10 percent discount during the quote-seeking process. Customers and non-customers who already “like” Esurance on Facebook must call the insurer to get the discount.
According to statistics cited by Esurance, Texas has more than 12.7 million Facebook users, and Arizona has more than 3 million.
Esurance emphasizes that the discount isn’t sponsored, endorsed or administered by Facebook.
Shopping for car insurance
Car insurance customers can find discounts like the new one introduced by Esurance, yet many of them fail to compare quotes among several insurers. A study released in April 2012 by market research giant J.D. Power and Associates found that only one-fourth of car insurance consumers had shopped for a new insurer in the past 12 months.
“In most cases, shoppers can compare many policies online and narrow down their search field … . From that point, they can then decide if they need to speak with an agent or to continue their online purchase process,” says Jeremy Bowler, senior director of the global insurance practice at J.D. Power.
In conjunction with a J.D. Power study released in June 2011, Bowler said discounts for having several insurance policies with one company are among the most common insurance discounts, along with discounts for being a safe driver.
“While discounts for multiple policies and discounts for being a safe driver are more prevalent, there isn’t a huge effect on satisfaction when customers receive these discounts,” Bowler said. “In comparison, accident forgiveness, ticket forgiveness and claims-free discounts are less common in the marketplace and have a dramatic impact on satisfaction … .”
