How To Get Auto Insurance And Avoid Online Fraud |
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Mike Miscal
2 November 2012
The internet has made our lives far more convenient. We are able to research, read the news, play games, pay bills, and more with the simple click of a mouse. With this innovation has also become a problem of identity theft. The more offers that are available online, the more we find people willing to take advantage of people. How can you protect yourself from these online predators? People must be aware of the pitfalls of using online services so that they can take steps to avoid them. There are many things that you can do to protect yourself.
The first thing to do is to make sure of what information you are providing on any sort of application form. For application purposes, you should never be asked for personal information like your social security, bank account numbers, and credit card accounts. If you are asked for this sort of information, then you should immediately be suspicious of the intent. You should never provide this sort of information early on. Follow the typical steps to stop identity theft. You can find several ideas online. Just remember, if they are asking for personal information before even speaking to you directly, then you probably should not trust them.
You should also make sure that any agency you choose online has a physical address. Post office boxes do not count. You want to find a place, that if there is any sort of problem that you can visit them directly. This also shows that the company can be investigated if they have a real physical address. If it is local, you may even want to pay them a visit to provide any sort of documentation. This also may give you an idea of the professional status of the company. You will want to avoid a home office, since they are easily set up and dismantled without a trace.
Research your potential choices. You can usually find company reviews online. Do not believe reviews that you find on the company?s website. They will obviously not allow negative reviews on their own site. So look elsewhere and see if you can find negative reviews. Auto insurance is too important to find out that the company has a history of rejecting claims. No matter how much money you save, it does not matter if they reject your claim. You may find nothing wrong. You could even use the physical address to see if you can find anything about them in their local areas. The Better Business Bureau and or Chamber of Commerce may give you some idea of their reputation.
Do not be reckless. You may not want to use auto insurance brokers, rather than to individual sites. Broker sites gather standard information and send that information to a collection of insurance providers. Most brokerage sites do checks on the providers they represent. They do this because it would hurt their business to be associated with a fraud.
Brokerage sites are one of the best methods to use to avoid frauds. Be careful when you are searching; be aware of what information that you are putting out there. Your auto insurance should not create an identity theft crisis.