4 Steps To Buy Life Insurance Online Or Compare Online Life Insurance Quotes

Life insurance agency websites enable anyone to buy life insurance online these days, but the process still presents some challenge. It requires the shopper to work with online life insurance quote engines, compare online life insurance quotes, and, inescapably, make critical decisions.  Let's walk through those decisions together.

Step one: choose a website

It may sound like a tall order, choosing from among the many websites that allow users to buy life insurance online; however, with only a very little bit of know-how, you won't go wrong.  A good agency website will compare multiple life insurance carriers' products for you.  Glance through the home page or "about us" section of the website for carrier names you recognize and trust, names like Prudential, MetLife, John Hancock, etc.  Currently, www.wholesaleinsurance.net queries 117 of the nations most reliable, financially sound insurers for you.

If a site has a healthy population of reputable life insurance carriers and a comfortable navigating atmosphere, navigate to the online life insurance quote engine (find and click the button reading "click here to begin quote" or something to that effect).  Be aware, though, that some websites offer only term life insurance quotes online.  If you think your needs extend beyond that, you had better either speak with a human service agent or try a different website.

Use of the agency's website will not cost you anything.  Neither will the use of one of their agents.

Step two: fill out the online form

This step requires you to make several critical decisions.  Two of them (deciding the amount and type of life insurance coverage) entail a discussion of their own, so they will not be treated here.  The decision of immediate interest is how to answer the field which requests the shopper's health class or rate class.

Even those shoppers who know what a health class is can't answer the question perfectly because an applicant's health class can differ from one carrier to the next (and recall that your website should compare online life insurance quotes from multiple carriers).  Therefore, don't stress over this question, and don’t spend too much time on it.

Your rate class represents your mortality risk and, consequently, the price you will pay for coverage.  The classes from lowest to highest risk are: Best (also, Preferred Best or Preferred Plus), Preferred, Standard Plus, and Standard.  Although class distinctions differ among carriers, some general guidelines to help you make your selection are available on the better websites.  (Here are the guides for life insurance health classes.)

Step three: compare online life insurance quotes

Click the button to submit the online life insurance quote form, and a list of quotes appears.  You may be surprised to find how short that list is.  The Wholesale Insurance site queries 117 carriers, but the number of quotes will be far fewer, depending on your type of life insurance, the duration of coverage, the amount of coverage, and the state where you reside.  Few carriers do business in every state, and not all carriers offer the specific insurance product for which you are in the market.

Your better websites will offer some information about each life insurance carrier on the list.  The Wholesale Insurance site provides a financial-strength rating, a service rating, and a brief bio for each.  These can be of use in narrowing your selection, but of principal concern is the quoted cost of coverage.  Generally, go with the carrier who gives the cheapest online life insurance quote.

Why do the quotes differ so much?  Different carriers have different strengths.  The carrier who gives you the best quote may not offer such a competitive price for other term periods, other types of insurance, other height/weight ratios, etc.

Step four: apply online

This probably feels like the step in which you buy life insurance online, but in fact, you're only inviting a life insurance carrier to verify your health class and then extend an offer to you.  Your have no binding contract until you've made your first payment.

Typically, the life insurance company will make an appointment to send a medical professional to administer an medical examination.  Also, it will investigate your health history and family health history.  It may be several weeks before the carrier determines your health class.  If its decision coincides with the selection you made on the quoter form, then the price it offers will coincide exactly with the price you were quoted.

If the price you are offered differs from the price you were quoted, all is not lost.  Your agent (if you have been comparing online life insurance quotes through an agency website, one of their agents will help you) may be able to go to bat for you, bring additional information to the carrier, and win you a more favorable health class.  If not, it may be worth going to the next best quote from the agency's online life insurance quoter and applying there.

Click here to compare online life insurance quotes yourself.