I read the article (“Insurance Firms Internet Shy, Survey Says,” June 28) and I found it interesting and flawed. I work for Allstate Insurance and have been watching the competitors very carefully. While I don't know their budgets, I do know that many major carriers such as State Farm, Nationwide, American Family and Farmers are spending well over $500,000 each. In fact, State Farm is on InsWeb countrywide and now does quoting on its site. At Allstate, we are on InsuredMarket and allow our customers to contact us by the Internet.
My recommendation is for your publication to go on the Internet and look at State Farm's, Allstate's and American Family's Web sites to see for yourself. In addition, I would recommend that you contact the major Internet providers such as InsWeb and InsuredMarket to see what they say. As you probably know, InsWeb had received an infusion of money from Peoplesoft and has filed with the SEC to sell stock. This all supports the view that the spending exceeds over $500,000 per carrier.
Craig Gaitan
Allstate Insurance
