There are high-quality Web sites in the insurance industry, and there are some poor ones. A study of the online presence of 11 leading national carriers offering personal auto insurance found a wide disparity among carriers, report representatives of Keynote Systems, which conducted the study.

Keynote selected the largest and most prominent online competitors in the insurance industry for its study, according to Steve Foster, director of competitive research for Keynote. "When we look at the overall index, the number-one performer last year and this year is Progressive Insurance," he says. American Family ranked second this year, up from third a year ago. Allstate climbed to third from fifth place a year ago. GEICO was second in 2006 but slipped to fourth this year. The remaining carriers, in order, were Travelers, Nationwide, MetLife, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, GMAC, and AIG.

The study uncovered some major issues insurers need to address with regard to technical quality. While studying the sites over a 30-day period, Ben Rushlo, a senior manager for Keynote, discovered some sites were down for between 20 and 40 hours, eliminating any opportunity for customers to get a quote online.

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