Nearly half of Albertans don’t fully understand all aspects of their auto insurance policy: Esurance survey

Nearly half of Albertans don’t fully understand all aspects of their auto insurance policy and about one-third want to manage their insurance online, according to a recent Esurance-sponsored survey.

The survey, released on Wednesday, found that more than half of Albertans are already leveraging the Internet to shop for auto insurance; however, there’s a gap between shopping for a quote and being able to fully manage insurance online, since the service hasn’t been widely available. More than half (54%) also believe that “interacting with their insurance provider online is beneficial for convenience, cost and simplicity,” Esurance said in a statement.

For the survey, Leger, a research intelligence group, conducted a quantitative online survey of 959 Albertans in July. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/- 3.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Although Albertans are Internet-savvy and do their research when making auto insurance decisions, more than two-thirds (70%) admit to “feeling in the dark about their auto insurance.” The survey also revealed that less than half (46%) feel they understand all aspects of their auto insurance policy and almost the same amount (44%) “have no idea how a driving infraction or accident would affect their rates.”

In total, two out of every five Albertans who research auto insurance information do so online, the survey found. “Albertans said since they do everything online anyway, it makes sense to extend that to auto insurance,” the statement added.

“Alberta is an online-savvy province that is among the leaders in Canada in terms of internet usage,” said Saskia Matheson, general manager at Esurance Canada, in the statement. “As so many Albertans have already transitioned important services such as banking and shopping to online and mobile, it seems only natural that insurance would be next.”

Alberta is the first and only province to have Esurance as a direct-to-consumer auto insurance option. Backed by Allstate, Esurance allows Albertans to research, purchase, and manage their auto insurance online with direct access to documents and claims services at any time. Esurance provides auto insurance direct to Canadian consumers and offers multiple products in the United States, including auto, homeowners, motorcycle and renters insurance.