Most insurance companies have standardized official quotations for most general auto insurance policies that they offer. This standardized way of calculating policy quotes is the basis insurance companies use to charge their prospective policy holders and more importantly it is calculated in a way that factors coverage of all the possible risks and the overall profit that the insurance company wants to make with the quoted charge.

This already worked out charge on most insurance coverage policies has helped streamline insurance operations and at the same time reduced the complexity of the business model in regard to the day to day running of the business. On the other hand this standardized official data has also turned out to be a source of information on the company’s products and services in a counterproductive way to both the consumer and the insurance company’s competitors. Many competitors and consumers doing research on the different auto insurance quotes in a sector turn to these official quotes as a source of data to be compared with other company’s quotes.

Many insurance companies have realized the sensitive nature of these official rate charts and hence many of the auto insurers have kept this rate chart data as confidential as possible. The insurers know that the details in this rate chart, from the factors that the insurance company considers when calculating risk to the final quotes and discounts offered will be used and compared against competitor’s rate charts. If not careful this information will result in material which competitors can use against them in advertisement and negative publicity.

Irrespective of all the attempts insurance companies have gone to hide this information, there are still many sources from which determined auto insurance bargain/discount hunters can turn to get this information. For starters there is the Internet. A lot of insurance companies with a competitive edge and consumer insight groups have set up insurance comparison search engines and programs for the public use. What most insurance companies have gone to great length to cover up is known to a large extent to the market for analysis.