New lead gen site: Calif. Dept. of Insurance

The California Department of Insurance has added a link on the home page of its Web site that, with a click of a mouse, takes consumers to an industry-sponsored title insurance rate shopping site -- bypassing the state's own, harder-to-find, but arguably more useful, rate comparison tool.

The last time I switched my auto insurance coverage, about six or seven years ago, I did so after stumbling on a rate comparison tool on the California Department of Insurance's Web site. I'd been with the same company for years, and ignored all those offers you get in the mail from other companies because I thought my carrier (one of those companies with a bunch of As in it) couldn't be beat.

The Department of Insurance search tool -- which surveys consumers on the actual rates they pay, but doesn't provide actual quotes -- suggested there were several auto insurers offering much better rates.

Another reason I'd never been that interested in shopping around was I'd heard horror stories about what a nightmare it could be to get the bargain basement insurers to pay a claim. One thing that was particularly useful about the Department of Insurance site was it provided performance and comparison data about each company, including complaints from consumers.

Turned out the cheapest company for my area also had one of the best track records on performance, so I switched. My wife and I saw our premiums go down by several hundred dollars a year and we have saved literally thousands of dollars on our auto insurance. We've had a couple of minor claims that were hassle free. I recommend this company to people all the time whether or not they've asked for my advice.

When I tried out the auto insurance search tool today, I got a list of 47 companies, with consumers reporting rates for a standard policy for a married couple with no violations ranging from $1,394 (my current insurer!) to $6,056. Our old insurer was charging couples in our area $2,852 a year.

The Department of Insurance offers a very similar search tool for title insurance. You choose your transaction type, county, and amount, and you get back a list of companies and what they might charge you (based on a 2006 survey of consumers). Plus you can click on a "company profile" link for company performance and complaint information -- and a phone number for getting an actual quote.

The industry now has its own title insurance rate shopping site, TitleWizard, which is operated by a private company on behalf of the California Land Title Association. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner was on hand to publicize the site's launch Oct. 9, calling it "a first step to infuse competition into the Title insurance industry." And, it goes with out saying, a less painful first step than the $1 billion rate rollback proposed last year by Poizner's predecessor, John Garamendi.

The Department of Insurance not only endorses the site, but has taken the unusual step of linking to it on the home page of the department's official Web site. Clicking on "NEW! Compare title insurance rates" under "Highlights" takes visitors away from the Department of Insurance, to www.clta.titlewizard.com.

If you want to get to the Department of Insurance's title insurance rate comparison tool from the home page, you have to go to the "Consumer" drop down menu, select "Premium Comparisons" and then choose from the different lines of insurance there. If you don't already know where to look, it's a lot easier to end up on the industry's Web site than the state's.

So how do the sites compare?

The Department of Insurance site generates a chart, showing what each company charges for:

-- a "CLTA standard form policy" insuring the owner

--an "ALTA residential policy, which provides more coverage than the basic CLTA policy including matters not disclosed in public records such as survey boundaries, and property access rights

-- an "ALTA Homeowner's Policy" with even broader coverage including easements, lack of access, encroachments, violations of codes, violations of deed covenants, and conditions or restrictions -- the default policy for the California Real Estate Sale and Purchase Agreement - Contract Form.

--Title Lender Fee, or the fee paid for the portion of the title insurance policy that protects the lender.

When I searched the Department of Insurance site for a policy on a $450,000 transaction in Oakland, Calif., I got 17 results, ranging from $1266 to $1,608 for the ALTA Homeowner's policy. I got an equal number of estimates for title lender fee, ranging from $546 to $668.

With TitleWizard, if I entered the same information, identifying myself as the buyer (that's who pays for title insurance in Alameda County) I was given 10 estimates, for title lender fees, ranging from $517 to $577, but none for a homeowner's policy. The only way I could get information for a homeowner's policy was to run another querry as the seller. That got me 10 results, ranging from $1,228 to $1,820.

While both sites probably have their pluses and minuses,, the industry site offered fewer companies and less information than the Department of Insurance site that was already in place when TitleWizard was launched with much fanfare.

If the Department of Insurance wants to pat the industry on the back for its efforts, that's their call. But should they be redirecting consumers who come to them as a reliable, trusted soruce of information away to an industry-sponsored Web site?

Something tells me the auto insurer I ended up with after using the Department of Insurance's rate comparison tool might not have been included on a site operated by their competitors. They're just kicking their tails too hard.

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