The U.S. has been anticipating Google's entrance into auto insurance, and that day has finally arrived.
The company today announced the addition of auto insurance to Google Compare, which allows users to compare different auto insurance rates from a range of different insurance providers.
"Today we're introducing Google Compare for car insurance in California, with more states to follow," said Google in a blog post. "This represents the newest addition to a suite of Google Compare products designed to help people make confident, more informed financial decisions."
The option to compare different services from different providers will pop up on Google when users search for "car insurance" or other similar things.
The new service is great for a number of reasons. It's not too hard to find services to compare auto insurance quotes. The hard part is finding a service that gives you all the information in one place without asking for your email address and over-spamming your inbox. Using Google's comparison service, however, removes that problem. Users can safely compare auto insurance services without fear of their contact information being in the databases of all these services.
As mentioned, the service is currently only available in California; however Google is planning on offering more states as time goes on.
Using the service is rather easy, if you live in California. Simply enter your zip code, after which you will be asked to submit a few more details, like your name, address and date of birth. You can also ask Google to look up as much information about you as it can. You will also, of course, also have to enter information about your car.
Google has offered auto insurance comparison services in the U.K. for some time now.
Google also makes it clear that any numbers that you share with Google during the process will be masked using Google Voice. This should help with the fear that many people have when handing their number over to auto insurance providers.
Google is partnering with a number of nationwide insurance providers such as Mercury Insurance and MetLife, as well as local providers.
"We're always looking for opportunities to use new technology to enhance the customer experience," said Kishore Ponnavolu, Executive Vice President at MetLife. "Partnering with Google Compare allows us to bring our unique group pricing and benefits to a wider range of customers, while creating an easier shopping experience."
Google Compare will roll out its auto insurance comparison service to more states over the next few months.
