Trying to obtain an insurance quote, online (or: How companies do not get the Internet, part 3857)
Our car insurance is up for renewal next month, so I figured it’s time
to get some quotes to compare. TD already gave me a quote (over the phone), which was
far more expensive than our current insurance from Aviva Traders. Let’s see what the other players in this market can offer me.
OK, let’s go. I go to belairdirect.ca. I saw some advertising from them
and figure that this might be their domain. Got it right. Click on huge
“Get a Quote” button.
warning: You are trying to establish a connection with
“belairdirect.ca”, but the certificate belongs to
“www.belairdirect.com”.
Guess they didn’t set things up properly. Well, let’s klick on “OK”. What’s next:
Please check to see that you’ve entered the correct URL. If the URL is correct, then the content may have been moved.
Click here to go to belairdirect’s homepage.
OK, let’s try “belairdirect.com” – same problem. It only works when you
use “www.belairdirect.com”. Note for the webmaster of the Belairdirect
sites: It is very nice that you made sure that you can also access the
websites under different domains, and even without using the “www.”
prefix. To prevent people from encountering this error, you might want
to set up a redirect on the other domains that points to the working main site. If you need any help doing this, I am available for consulting 
Anyways, let’s get a quote, now that we know which website they want us
to go to. Filling out page after page. Side note: Canadian Auto
Insurance will generally not acknowledge any experience driving in
countries other than possibly the US. Even when the driver’s license
now just gets changed these days, without any additional test for many
countries. Anyways, still on my way throught he forms… Finally there,
the last button “Obtain a Quote”. Click.
This generally takes about 30 seconds.
Exciting… Insert Elevator music here… and then (60 seconds later or so):
We will remedy this situation as soon as possible.
Please try again later. Thank you for your understanding.
Note: This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 and Netscape Navigator 6.2 or subsequent versions.
(Please note, when you try again later (and go through all the (now pre-filled) forms again), you receive the same error).
Since I had advertising from them I figured let’s try RBC insurance. However, here too after filling out a loooooong form:
Our
online quote service is designed to handle most situations. However,
based on details you entered, we require additional information in
order to provide you with an accurate quote for your insurance needs.
I guess I will end up staying with Aviva, for now.