Random Thoughts on the Insurance Biz

Not, alas, particularly serious ones:

* I'm a bit amused by all those insurance ads that inform you that "customers who switch save an average of X dollars!" Well, sure -- the odds are that you're not going to switch if it costs more at the new place. Obviously, some people will do so for better service or coverage or whatever, but it is still a little misleading.

* That new State Farm ad where the guy is talking to State Farm at 3 AM and his wife thinks he's having an affair is pretty funny. But it also makes me hope State Farm has one of those screw-ups where there is a typo on one of their forms and their customers really are redirected to a phone sex line.

* Speaking of ads, why is it that insurance companies really seem to be near the cream of the crop in terms of putting out really entertaining, well-produced advertisements? Geico, State Farm, and Progressive all do a really good job, and if Allstate is less memorable, that's because it seems to have made a conscious choice to stake out the terrain as the serious, sober alternative to the other three (and from that vantage point, its ads are quite good as well).