netQuote is an online insurance marketplace that matches consumers with auto insurance companies that match their needs, and provides insurance agents and brokers with leads.
- About netQuote
- netQuote Ratings & Consumer Complaints
- How to Get Car Insurance Quotes With netQuote?
- The Pros & Cons of Getting Quotes from netQuote
- Types of Insurance Through netQuote
About netQuote (netquote.com)
netQuote has been serving the insurance market in some capacity since 1989 when customers knew the company as Telerate. Since then, the company merged with Auto Insurance Shopper, was re-branded as netQuote, acquired by personal finance company Bankrate, and finally spun off as a stand-alone company.
Currently, netQuote works as an online insurance marketplace headquartered in Austin, TX, working with drivers in all 50 states to match them with numerous auto insurance providers (netQuote claims “over 100 of the nation’s top insurance companies”) for car insurance quotes. netQuote works with some of the nation’s biggest players in the insurance game including, but not limited to Allstate, Nationwide, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, AARP, The Hartford, and Esurance, and Progressive.
However, netQuote is a lead generation website, so consumers aren’t going to get quotes directly from netQuote; rather, they’ll need to make one last stop at the provider’s website and/or work with insurance agents or independent insurance brokers to get their final quotes.
netQuote Ratings & Consumer Complaints
All Web Leads, Inc. (the parent business name for netQuote.com, Insurance Shopping Network, InsureMe, insurancequotes.com, and other related companies) is featured with the Better Business Bureau twice. We’re focusing on just the listing that features netQuote.com specifically.
netQuote isn’t accredited by the Better Business Bureau, but it does have an A+ BBB rating.
The BBB shows more than 20 customer reviews with an average one-star rating, and 60 customer complaints.
Most BBB reviews and complaints focus on:
- Insurance Agents: Unhappy with leads; feel leads are misleading or inaccurate.
- Customers: Harassing phone calls and emails.
It should be noted that netQuote does respond to the complaints on BBB, which most likely has helped lead to the company’s A+ BBB rating.
netQuote isn’t featured on well-known consumer review websites such as Clearsurance or HighYa, but is featured on ConsumerAffairs with nearly 40 reviews with an overall one-star rating. Most reviews complain about:
- Not getting quotes directly from netQuote and needing to re-enter information on insurance providers’ websites to get an actual quote.
- Consumers receiving harassing phone calls and emails.
- Agents getting inadequate leads or being overcharged for leads.
How to Get Car Insurance Quotes With netQuote?
You can begin the quotes process with netQuote online or by phone.
Be prepared to provide information about yourself and any other driver, your vehicle, and your auto insurance.
- Yourself and Other Drivers: full name; date of birth; gender; military status; marital status; education; occupation; credit rating; license status; rent or own home; tickets/claims in the last three years; home address; email address; telephone number.
- Vehicles: make; model; and year.
- Your current auto insurance: current provider; how long you’ve been covered; coverage level; do you need financial responsibility (SR-22); whether the vehicle is used for ridesharing.
Above, we say “begin the process with netQuote” because, in the end, you don’t actually get auto insurance quotes from netQuote; you must continue on with one of the insurance providers they match you with. That company provides you with insurance quotes; not netQuote.
Once you provide your information, netQuote will match you with auto insurance providers. Using the website, this happens immediately (both on the website and via email) and you’ll get several options. (HINT: If you visit the link in the email more than once, you can get additional matches! Nice trick if you’re not happy with the initial companies you got.)
We have learned that these companies are not random. Selecting these companies and ranking them in such an order are the core component of their business model and how they make money.
If you provide your phone numbers, netQuote will monetize you as insurance leads, connecting you with insurance agents or independent insurance brokers. Agents or brokers will contact you on your phone and/or email trying to provide you with quotes of the companies that they represent. Unlike EverQuote‘s, netQuote’s approach is not very consumer-friendly since they do not allow you to select if you want agents or brokers to contact you on phone or email. You have to provide phone number and email address as a part of the process and they will monetize you as insurance lead to agents and brokers by default.
If you want to compare quotes, working with an independent insurance broker might help you get multiple quotes faster. However, they are limited to quotes of companies that the broker work with only. If you want to consider quotes from other companies that the broker doesn’t work with, you will need to either go to the company’s website or contact their agents.
However, regardless of how many or the quality of your matches, in the end you must still refer to the insurance provider directly (either through their agents or their websites) to get the actual car insurance quote. This means you’ll need to enter your information again (sometimes more of it), which was a common complaint among netQuote reviewers.
>>MORE: The Best Car Insurance Comparison Sites
The Pros & Cons of Getting Quotes from netQuote
Pros:
- Website features helpful insurance-related calculators and other tools.
- netQuote works with several bigger auto insurance companies.
- They do connect you with multiple providers for more quotes.
Cons:
- Website is rather outdated and clunky.*
- You must fill out additional forms with the actual providers before finally getting a quote.
- netQuote doesn’t give you an option to opt in to be contacted by phone and/or emails by agents and brokers.
- Many customer complaints focus on harassing emails and phone calls.
* This might seem nitpicky, but given that netQuote has been around for so long, has an extensive network of partner websites, and has a lot of competition in this market, there’s no reason to not have a smoother, more visually appealing website. Still, it gets the job done.
Types of Insurance Through netQuote
netQuote works to match you with insurance providers who will then provide you with auto insurance quotes.
Additionally, you can find quotes for:
- Home Insurance.
- Health Insurance.
- Life Insurance.
- Group Health Insurance.
- Business Insurance.
- Renters Insurance.
Final Thoughts
The good news is that netQuote does provide matches with more auto insurance providers than most other online insurance marketplaces. The quotes process isn’t too long, and you can find additional helpful resources for organizing your insurance-related finances.
The bad news is that like many insurance marketplaces, netQuote doesn’t provide you direct quotes. You must get those by entering additional information on the actual provider’s website. Also, like most lead generation websites, netQuote sells your information as “leads” to insurance agents across the country so you will get phone calls and emails from the agents and their companies. These might be welcomed, if you’re hard on the hunt for more affordable coverage, or annoying if you’re just browsing or have already found a new policy.
>>More insurance marketplace reviews: Compare.com; thezebra.com; EverQuote