Product Trends Magazine

About the company:"Over half a million people have trusted Esurance with their auto insurance coverage. That’s because, along with our commitment to quality customer service, our insurance credentials ensure that you have coverage you can count on. Esurance is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best, a leading, independent rating organization. Our corporate parent provides extensive industry know-how and financial stability, so you know we’ll be there for you when you need us."

The big pitch: 24/7 customer service, instant online approval and proof of insurance, save hundreds on your auto insurance today!

One of the beautiful things about the internet is that it has the ability to make many of the tasks that used to take us months, happen instantaneously. Or at least, it should. Yet, oddly, many car insurance companies still work the old-fashioned way, asking you to bring or fax in copious copies of forms and applications so they can take weeks figuring out your rate. But not everyone is slow off the mark when it comes to taking full advantage of the online world for insurance, and at Esurance, they’re forging a big reputation by making things fast, simple, and pretty darn cheap.

When you click the Esurance link and go to their main page, you won’t find a dazzling variety of options and animations… you just find one single box. Put your zip code in it and hit ‘next’. Congratulations, you’re one step closer to getting your automobile insured!

But while there’s precious little to confuse you about Esurance’s front page, don’t be fooled - there are LOADS of options under the surface, but the way Esurance works the process is that they only ask you what they need to, while allowing you to make alterations to your policy AFTER you get your quote, to bring it down in price, or to fit in with your budget.

We found this to be an insanely clever, simple, non-confusing move. We simply gave our name, date of birth, how many cars, how many drivers, etc - about a minute of easy information entering - and we were looking at a comparison screen with four different company quotes on offer.

Now, let’s be clear here - Esurance’s estimate was NOT the cheapest deal listed. In fact, it was the second most expensive out of the four rates shown, with another company coming in at less than half of the price of Esurance, but the fact remains that every single policy has so many variables that, while this company wasn’t in the ballpark on our first test quote, it was the cheapest by far when we tried it for a second quote on another car.

What we love about Esurance is how quickly it cuts through the crap and gave us full control of our policy. By tweaking factors after the quote was given, such as bodily injury limits and additional personal injury protection, and by lowering our property damage limit and raising our collision coverage deductible, we knocked a hundred bucks off the 6-monthly cost of a policy.

When we decided we were ready to buy, that too was simple - just enter your personal details, such as driver’s license numbers etc, and then print off the proof of insurance, and that’s it!

Esurance is absolutely a good starting point whenever you need auto coverage. They may not give you the lowest quote, but they will allow you to figure out ways to reduce your rate, and they’re open and honest enough to show you what their competitors will charge, which you simply have to love.

The Product Trends rating: Esurance gets a big four stars. An absolute pleasure to work with.

To try Esurance for yourself, click the image below:

About the company: The cornerstone of our commitment to value and service is our exclusive 1 year lower price guarantee that takes the worry and hassle out of exhaustive price shopping. We are closely connected to the product manufacturers, eliminating middlemen markups and passing the savings on to you, our valuable customer. In order to achieve economic efficiencies, offer custom products and to make shipping faster and more convenient, our manufacturers ship direct to you from warehouses located throughout the United States.

The big pitch: AutoAnything offers worry-free shopping with a 1-year Lower Price Guarantee, exceptional customer service, top quality name brands, and they operate on a policy of 100% honesty and integrity.

When it comes to auto parts, one of the real problems with buying them online is that they cost so much to ship. Heavy parts equal big postal fees, and the company you buy from will quite often add a little extra into the bargain for ’shipping and handling’, adding profit to a profit margin that is already healthy.

That’s why we like AutoAnything so much. In taking AutoAnything for a test drive, the first thing we noticed is that they offer free shipping on just about all their products. They don’t oversell that point, stating clearly that the free shipping applies to only products with a free shipping symbol next to the price, but as we searched through spoilers, wings, guages and aluminum step boards, only the step boards required a postage fee, and that makes sense, since they’re so darn long.

The selection is very deep, with the site offering products in categories ranging from ski racks to car bras, fender flares to grille guards, sheepskin seat covers to air intake and fuel systems. Need performance chips? AutoAnything has them in stock. Looking for a new exhaust system? Go shopping online and AutoAnything will tell you everything you need to know.

But when we looked deeper, we found that our initial glee was understating how good this company is, and how easy their website is to use. When we tested their ecommerce checkout system, we found that most products had a standard discount of between 10-30%, and that finding the right part to suit our car was amazingly simple.

See, what AutoAnything does is let you choose your product, then you choose your make and model of car from a drop down box. The system then tells you exactly the type that will suit your car, as well as letting you know about any extra parts that you need to get your chosen purchase attached properly. In our case, a 54" brushed aluminum step board came in at $189 a pair, and the system told us that our 1994 Dodge Ram would require a Sure Grip running board mount to complete the installation.

The parts have standard warranty attached, returns are easy to manage, and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee, which we could find no fault with. Another huge attraction to AutoAnything is their 1-year Lower Price Guarantee, which means if you find a lower price, they’ll match it - for a year after your purchase.

If you’re looking for spare parts for your car, truck or SUV, it’s our opinion that AutoAnything is as good as online buying gets - in this or any other industry.

The Product Trends rating: No question, five stars. To try AutoAnything, click the link below:

About the company: "21st Century Auto Insurance is the seventh largest personal auto insurance company in California and insures over 1.5 million automobiles. 21st Century Insurance offers personal automobile, motorcycle, and umbrella insurance in California and automobile insurance in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Washington. The company receives much of its new business through referrals from current policyholders; the average annual renewal rate of existing policyholders is over 90%."

The big pitch: 21st Century says their customers "report average savings of $200 on car insurance."

Many auto insurers claim they’ll insure you online, that their rates are cheaper, and that they give you more, but the reality is that’s not always the case. We ran the rule over 21st Century Auto Insurance this past week to see what their level of service, attention to detail and fairness was like, as well as price, and we were pleasantly surprised.

First of all, the company’s website is very easy to use, which makes the process of getting a quote from them extremely simple. Just enter your zipcode and hit "go", and the system asks you a few questions, none of which we found too intrusive or hard to answer.

In fact, within 90 seconds of clicking "go", we had a quote for six months of insurance at $485. Compared to others we’ve tried, that’s a very reasonable price, but the process of getting to that price was ridiculously easy and stress-free.

Granted, if we want to go from that quote to actually setting up a policy, it gets more in-depth. You need to have your auto registration, license, existing policies, details of other drivers who will be covered etc - but for the quote itself, you need none of that. Just a zip code and a few vague details of your situation, like the make and model of your car, and how long it has been since your last accident.

Of course, we recommend that before taking out an insurance policy on anything, with anyone, you go through the details with a fine-toothed comb, but our experience with the 21st Century Auto Insurance has been, to this point, a total breeze.

The Product Trends Rating: On ease of use, price, reputation and simplicity, we give 21st Century Auto Insurance a 4-star rating. It would be nice if they covered more parts of North America, but if you live in California, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Texas or Washington state, this company is well worth a look.

To try 21st Century Auto Insurance for yourself and receive a free quote in 90 seconds, click the image below: