Alabama Insurance

James W. Bishop Jr. not as insurance agents. Thus, he decided when he took over life insurance, it is not representative of his appeal, indeed, he never pick up the phone. Instead, he went only to her bedroom and turned on his computer.

In a few minutes on the Internet, he received the estimates of five companies, how a long-term policy would cost $ 500000. He home with his wife, thought after a few days, and then went back to his machine and ordered the insurance on the World Wide Web, the graphical interface of the Internet component.

”I did not want a night of my family life and a sales representative come to my house, Sir,’’said the bishop. ”It was a much more easily than children go to bed and watch this operation on your computer. The agent had used the same factors that I have on the Web. There is nothing magical certificates in this regard.”

Mr Bischof, 32 years, a distribution company employees in Birmingham, Ala., is the type of consumer, insurance are many leaders nervous. The rise of the Internet, she forced a radical change in the traditional way of selling insurance: face to face with an army of more than 650000 agents across the nation.

In addition, the introduction of cybersales, like some other forces also appears the ranks of agents. These include the competitive threat of banks, sell now, pensions and rising interest rates by insurers in selling policies through affinity groups such as the American Association of Retired Persons. Agents are also found that more customers are opting for the concept of insurance and non-profit cash-Value-political, but he puts himself on investment funds and other financial products to build wealth.

So far, the number of Internet Shopper is small, probably not more than a few thousand. But enough young people like Mr. Bishop, are already fairly well with the Internet as a source of information or the turnover of retail trade beginning, which itself for insurance should be considered good. Every point is that buyers of these series could quickly see the caution so that tradition requires the industry is not quite sure, to be done.

”Most insurance companies people are completely scared, because it is so different from everything they have,’’said Hussein Enan, a former insurance executive, is now selling the policy more than a half - dozen companies, including Zurich Kemper and ITT Hartford on the Internet.

But ändern’’stattfindet and it passes quickly,”Mr. Enan, Director General of Insweb Corporation in San Mateo, California, said. In an industry where the gross receipts of all types of personal premiums - health, life, retirement, injury and - approximately $ 800 billion per year, the stakes are enormous.

Thus far, most insurance on the Internet is an expression life, a reines””Versicherung provides only a death benefit and is relatively simple. Often recommended by consumer groups because it provides coverage for a relatively low price, visit life also has the advantage for many customers require little or no advice. Although not yet as popular as policy, which is also a flow of value, a concept of life has been widely advertised and sold on the phone for years.

But the Internet is now the insurance beyond relatively simple concept of life. During recent months, some companies, like Insweb, have begun offering auto and individual health insurance and those specializing in political coverage for Jet-skis. There is even one that pays in the case of development, the ruins of a marriage - in short a change of heart by the couple.

Last week, Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, one of the largest health insurance funds in the country, went on line by Insweb with a number of policy areas.

Even as some insurers have been insisting on the Internet, many executives and industry leaders see no reason to change how they. They contend that computer networks will never be ending as a small segment of the market, and they take care of injuries in the security field, if the networks are often distribution policy.

William F. Yelverton, Chief Executive of each company insurance group in the Prudential Insurance Company of America, the country’s largest life insurer, says computers fine for the collection and exchange of information. But he rejects the Internet as a vehicle for sale and did not see it coming between Prudential and its agents 12500.

”We see the agents of the nature and excellence in order to distribute life insurance, now and in the future,”he said.

And Dennis H. Chookaszian, Chairman and Chief Executive of the CNA, a large insurer of Chicago, argues that important data like credit card numbers could be intercepted and basic information could not even its destination address.

These sales on the Internet, but say that the complex coding system for the protection of the buyer and that the chances of losing material in cyberspace are remote.

There are also fears of fraud - both buyers and sellers - is replaced by the free flow of the nature of the Internet, a market difficult for the police. Daniel P. bet, founder of the Quick Quote Insurance Agency, said 5 percent of its Internet applications, a sort of disappointment, especially when the disclosure of serious health problems.