SmartFinancial Insurance Reviews: Quotes, Ratings (2022)

You need insurance, so you’ve decided to try the automated car insurance comparison experience that everyone’s talking about. But how do you know which one to use? Which one can you trust with your information? Your time? Though there are many auto insurance shopping tools out there, each one is different, from the questions it includes to the experience it offers.

While Insurify is the top-rated auto insurance shopping platform in the U.S., we wanted to give you insight into similar tools and services. Not only is it important to understand how these tools work before you trade your valuable data and time, but you should also always consider what’s in it for you—and for them.

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What is SmartFinancial?

SmartFinancial has two objectives. One is to match people with their best insurance products, be that auto, home, life, health, medicare, or commercial. The second is to serve as a lead-generation source for agents and insurance companies. SmartFinancial provides these leads by funneling consumers through one of its several digital insurance comparison engines.

How does SmartFinancial work?

SmartFinancial asks you to begin your search for a cheaper auto policy by putting in your ZIP code, like similar quote-comparison tools. You then build a driver profile by answering a series of questions, including what company you’re currently insured with, if you own your home, and if you’ve served in the military.

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Many questions have yes or no answers, with some screens offering explanations that accompany the questions. For example, when asking about military service, the comment “some companies offer military discounts” serves to answer any question you may have had about being asked.

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Though each page is formatted similarly, the question-and-answer process doesn’t drag on too long. Instead, the questions seem to zip by quickly as they slide from the right to the left side of the screen.

As with most other insurance comparison sites, there’s no anonymity here. You’ll have to submit your name, address, email, and phone number in a bid to finally view rates. Still, encouraged by the brevity and cleanliness of this calculator, users may choose to continue forward.

Instead of seeing any rates yet, the site returns just one insurer recommendation (Progressive) and an opportunity to have a licensed agent call you. Though the Progressive option offers another chance to view an actual quote, the View My Quote button redirects you to the Progressive site, where the quoting process picks up again and users have to answer a whole new slate of questions.

There is also an option to talk to an agent. However, who you talk to and what company they represent aren’t clear here. The vague language seems to be purposeful. Once you understand that you are the product (the lead), the tool seems much less helpful to the consumer than promised.

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SmartFinancial Reviews: Here's what customers are saying…

Most of the SmartFinancial reviews online are written by agents who depend on the company for leads. The reviews range from very negative to very positive. Agents complain that some leads don’t even know why they’ve been transferred to them, which makes sense considering the lack of explanation on the tool’s quoting page.

The single consumer review this author did find complained about a spam call they received just minutes after submitting their phone number. To the company’s credit, SmartFinancial responded helpfully to the complaint.

Indeed, it won’t be surprising if you get a call or several after using this site, as its main purpose is that of lead generation.

SmartFinancial vs. Insurify: The Facts

Though not as colorful a tool as Insurify, SmartFinancial does know how to get you through the question-and-answer process painlessly. And they save your profile information so that you can edit it if you return to the site later and want a quote based on an updated profile. However, the site never gives you a quote as it leads you to believe—only a single suggestion and a redirect.

Insurify not only makes building your driver profile pleasant, but it also keeps things simple every step of the way by allowing you to update information within the same session, regardless of the page you are on. Most importantly, Insurify delivers on its promises, returning dozens of actual quotes to users once their profile is complete.

SmartFinancial vs. Policygenius

Policygenius is an unaffiliated insurance broker. Whereas SmartFinancial makes its money by getting insurance agents and insurance companies to pay them per lead, per call, or per click, Policygenius gets paid a commission by insurance companies for each sale they make.

Policygenius requires that you enter your driver’s license and current policy before they’ll return quotes. While the reason has to do with quoting accuracy, Insurify can show you actual quotes within minutes and includes an accuracy indicator, so you know when you’re close.

SmartFinancial vs. NerdWallet

NerdWallet allows you to compare auto insurance rates through a third-party calculator owned by insure.com. The process of building a profile is quick, but instead of returning you actual quotes, NerdWallet gives several insurance company recommendations with links that redirect you to their sites.

Insurify owns and created the algorithm behind their calculator and returns you quotes in minutes without wasting your time or redirecting you to another site.

How to Save on Car Insurance

As more insurance companies enter the digital marketplace, AI-driven shopping sites can match drivers with increasingly competitive quotes. But the best insurance can only come when the site you are using asks the right questions. With Insurify, you can be sure to get all the discounts you qualify for, together with an easy, honest experience.

More about SmartFinancial

Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, SmartFinancial has additional offices in Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; and Austin, Texas. SmartFinancial aims to streamline and bring transparency to the online insurance-buying process with a technology-savvy group of engineers, web developers, insurance experts, insurance agents, and business development personnel. Their mascot and brand image is one very smart-looking pig.

Contact Information

• Phone: 1 (855) 214-2291

• Email: info@smartfinancial.com

• Office: 1901 Newport Blvd, Suite 300, Costa Mesa, CA 92627