What exactly does a ‘Free’ term life insurance quote mean?

Life insurance quoting websites are ubiquitous today. A typical Google search currently returns over 61 million results including thousands of different quoting websites. Some belong to large companies with hundreds of agents in their call centers, while others are micro-businesses with little more than one or two people and a computer.

Regardless of size, most of these companies promote ‘Free’ term life insurance quotes on their websites. And we do the same on our website.

But what does free mean in the sense of these quotes? And do they come without a cost?

This past weekend I came across a banner advertisement on a local news website. The ad was from a large, well-known life insurance company with a solid rating and good reputation. In fact, I’d bet if I asked a group of people to name three life insurance companies for me, this company would be one of those named 90+ percent of the time.

The ad went something like this:

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REQUEST A FREE, NO OBLIGATION QUOTE NOW
*All Fields are Required

First Name: ________________________
Last Name: ________________________
Address:     ________________________
City, State & Zip: ___________________

Telephone: ________________________
Day or Evening: ____________________

E-mail: ____________________________

GET FREE QUOTES!

(And finally, at the bottom, the kicker):

We respect your privacy.

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Oh, really? Hmm … okay.

If the life insurance company respects your privacy so much, why do they feel compelled to ‘require’ your private and personal contact information just to give you a quote for term life insurance? Does your name influence the premium? Are the rates lower for those using Gmail or Hotmail accounts?

So these quotes are technically free because they don’t cost you any money. However, they will cost you your name, address, telephone number, email, etc. That’s some fairly valuable information you are providing, don’t you think? And even if the company promises not to sell your information, surely they are going to do something with it, right? What do you suppose that is?

If you want a ‘Free’ quote for term life insurance, find a reputable online company that will provide one without collecting personal contact information from you. We happen to know a good one if you are looking, but I’m sure you can find a few others if you try.

Maybe.