Our life today takes place online, and this has also arrived at the insurance companies. Meanwhile there are dozens Direct insurance who vie for the favor of customers. But where exactly is the difference between conventional insurance (Service insurance) and direct insurance? What are the pre-. Bzw. Disadvantages? In this article we would like to clarify.
Direct insurance vs. Service insurance
What is service insurance?
Service insurance, i.E. Traditional insurance, has a branch or an agent who is responsible for you. If you now want to take out a new car insurance, then visit the branch, or let the insurance agent come to your home. You have personal contact with someone who knows about insurance, and can advise you directly and appropriate to your situation.
Even after the conclusion of the car insurance you are not left in the lurch, you can at any time in the Branch, resp. The office of the representative, go and ask your questions or announce changes. For example, if you have a new address or bank details. Even if you want to change your current car insurance in the benefits, you can get advice directly.
An advantage of a service insurance: If you conclude still further insurance beside your KFZ policy with the same company, for example: Hausrat, life insurance, BU insurance, then you often get a customer bonus which makes the insurance even cheaper, but do not forget to make a price comparison because of the enticing bonus.
What is a direct insurance?
The biggest difference to the service insurance is the distribution. Because here you do not get a personal contact through an insurance agent or even a branch office. With direct insurance, you simply take out your insurance for the car yourself, exclusively online (sometimes also by telephone). Of course, this carries certain risks with regard to the lack of advice, but in the end it can also be a protection against "overinsurance. Because an insurance agent wants to sell of course, he earns his living with conclusions. Thus during the consulting discussion for the KFZ insurance completely besides the history of an "acquaintance" is told, this had a bad accident and had unfortunately additionally bad luck, because it had no driver auxiliary insurance – do not want to lock these with? So or similarly, the "persuasion" is the order of the day, you sit there and nod intimidated, who wants to live after an accident already at the subsistence level. Insurance agents are trained exactly for such "sales talks.
But still, if you take out a direct insurance, then inform yourself extensively what protection is useful. The homepages of the insurers are now all so good that you can clarify many questions during the application process without having to leave the homepage and the form. A good example is here the homepage of the R+V24 direct insurance.
With direct insurance, you can always send an e-mail if you have questions, but most insurers also have a hotline.
Changes to your bank details or address can be made quickly and easily at any time via online access at your insurance company, around the clock.
Enormous time saving thanks to direct insurance
The biggest advantage lies in the time saved, because personal contact is a disadvantage, especially for young people; it costs time, and time is everything these days. And why pay attention to business hours when everything is possible online around the clock?? Particularly if one looks for a new KFZ insurance, then the "Rennerei" around offers to catch up, stands in no relation opposite an on-line comparison.
Because once you enter your data, dozens of insurers are compared in one fell swoop and within a few seconds. The online application is then also completed in a few minutes – in this short time you have not yet received an offer in a branch office.
The cost advantages of direct insurance
If you've read this far then you can already guess why direct insurance companies can offer your policies cheaper than service insurance companies. Because the elaborate and Extremely expensive field service falls away completely with direct insurers. No office rent, no vehicle fleet, no insurance agents. A handful of employees takes care of tens of thousands of policyholders – this enormous cost saving makes the car policies of direct insurers so favorable.
So if you can live with learning important things about car insurance yourself, and therefore don't want to invite an insurance agent to your home, you can save some money. Many independent tests have shown that almost always a three-digit amount per year can be saved – make the comparison yourself here.
Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself where to buy your new car insurance, below we have once summarized the advantages and disadvantages of both options:
Advantages of a service insurance:
– Personal advice in a branch, or at your home, from insurance representatives – personal customer service even after the contract has been concluded – often attractive customer bonus when taking out several insurance policies – personal support in the event of a claim
Disadvantages of a service insurance:
– a lot of time is lost by visits of a representative or in a branch – a comparison of many KFZ insurers is temporally not possible – one must keep to business hours – the personal contact is paid with higher contributions – you have no warranty like well trained the insurance advisor is, there also no permission is useful something – frequently with attendance by skilful "fairy tales" to unnecessary conclusions "advised"
Advantages of a direct insurance:
– enormous time saving – by comparison portals you come very fast to an immediate comparison – you fill out the insurance application at any time at the computer – no letter flood – all documents come by email and are callable in your customer login
The damage report
In the event of an accident, the claims process is the same for both types of insurance, there is a hotline that is staffed around the clock. Every insurance company, regardless of whether it is a service or a direct one, has a. These are best called immediately after the accident. First report the damage verbally.
Suffers the service?
Here it depends on what one makes for claims. If you are not familiar with car insurance, for example, and are not able to get answers to your questions from the Internet, it is of course easier to invite an insurance agent who will explain everything from A to Z. But if you can get this information yourself and know exactly what is important and what is not, you can use the fast online service and have no loss of service.
Some complex matters, such as the.: the transfer of a no-claims bonus, are often more easily arranged by an insurance agent / customer advisor, but without it, of course, also works.
Conclusion: If you want to save money and value your time, go for a direct insurance policy. All information about the conclusion of a motor vehicle insurance can be found, for example, here is a list of the most important articles.