Buying insurance online with credit cards

Credit cards are THE most convenient way to pay for car insurance. Whether buying a new car insurance policy or renewing a car insurance policy with an existing insurance provider, they provide a no-hassle way of paying for car insurance. What's more paying for car insurance with credit cards could earn you money off your insurance premiums too!

When purchasing car insurance, consumers are often presented with payment options for their insurance. Consumers can either pay for their car insurance with credit cards over the telephone, or alternatively, users can log onto the insurance provider's website and use their cards to pay for their insurance online.

Not all car insurance providers offer this dual way to pay for insurance, the Internet payment option not always being available through insurance providers. This is especially true of smaller car insurance providers who accept credit cards, but have not yet harnessed the power of the Web.

The process of buying car insurance

Regardless of whether car insurance is purchased online or insurance is bought over the telephone, the process of buying insurance is essentially the same.

The process begins with the insurance quotation form. If you intend to use credit cards to buy insurance over the telephone then the 'insurance quotation form' will of course be questions posed by the insurance provider so they can work up an insurance quote.

Telephoning around for insurance quotes can be a time consuming process. Much easier (and faster) is the online option of obtaining car insurance quotes. In fact, by using the Internet, consumers can find car insurance quotes and pay for the insurance in as little as 10 minutes.

Once consumers are happy with their insurance quotes, it's time for them to whip out their credit cards to pay for the insurance. Making telephone payments for car insurance or making online payments for car insurance are both really easy to do.

When paying for car insurance over the telephone, insurance providers will ask for the long number printed on the front of insurance buyers card. This is the insurance buyers credit card's account number, and represents the account of the insurance buyer to which the insurance premium will be charged.

The insurance provider will want to know the type of credit card being used in transactions by account holders too. All cards fall into one of three types - Visa, American Express, and MasterCard. No matter what brand are being used to buy insurance, or which issuer gave them to the insurance buyer, their cards will belong to one of these three types. To work out which type insurance buyers have, they should look for the logos on the front of their credit cards. One of the three credit cards types will be represented by their logo.

More information

The insurance provider will ask for the expiry date printed on the bottom of credit cards, as well as for the name printed on the card. As extra security, insurance companies require consumers to tell them their security number too. This is a three-digit number printed on the back of the insurance buyers card.

When paying for car insurance online, the process of credit cards payments for insurance is the same. Consumers just have to enter their details into a form instead of telling the insurance provider their card details over the phone.

Whether buying car insurance online or buying car insurance over the telephone, payments for car insurance are processed by the insurance provider immediately. By consumers paying for the whole insurance amount up-front on their cards, consumers may be rewarded with an insurance discount by the insurance provider. This could be an insurance discount of 10% or more off the cost of the account holder's car insurance.