Keep Your Identity To Yourself
Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator for Carinsurancesa.co.za, a leading South African car insurance portal. For more information visit: http://www.carinsurancesa.co.za
Out of all the things you could lose or get stolen, your identity is probably the most precious and scariest to compromise. If you’re one of the many people who worry about identity theft, you’re definitely not alone. Statistics show in 2008 alone, 10 million people had their identities stolen. Of the 10 million people, 11% had their identities compromised through the internet. 1 out of 10 people! That’s enough to make you second guess your internet shopping for merchandise or car insurance quotes.
Fortunately, many of these criminals who steal peoples’ identities aren’t smart enough to use high-tech equipment. They result to old fashion ways of stealing your credit cards or identification cards. For the most part, they don’t use the internet to hack our information. At least we are safer from identity theft while shopping in a mall or down a street, instead of browsing stores’ websites.
Just to even the odds in your favor you should double check the security settings of the internet sites you frequent. Most of the websites you’re used to browsing begin with “http”. This stands for “hypertext transfer protocol” and it’s main purpose is to combine sources in a network. It gets more technical than that of course but you’ll have to read about it in detail from experts who know all about the internet. Your main focus for security should be the letter ‘s’ at the end of the “http” at a secure site. The next time you log in to a secure site, the web address will begin with “https” instead of just “http”.
How does one letter make all the difference? If the car insurance website you’re visiting is a legitimate business that cares about their customer’s safety and satisfaction, they have gone through the necessary precautions to ensure your privacy. The ‘s’ in ‘https’ stands for security, and more than just adding one letter, the whole web page has been coded to protect your personal information from any one else trying to hack it. It is critical for car insurance companies to have these security measures in place so that their customers feel safe and will return for the same great service.
Don’t feel safe even with the ‘s’ in the web address? Then just visit an car insurance agent instead. An agent can give you a quote after you give him your Social Security number and other identification. The agent will be able to check your driving record and give you an estimate for your services. Although your driving record is important in determining the quote, the agent also considers many other factors of you and your car, such as:
a) Your zip code, because that tells him what neighborhood you live in
b) The crime rates in your city
c) The amount of traffic in your area
d) The amount of time and distance you drive
e) Your occupation
f) The length and time of your commute to your job
g) What type of car you drive
h) How much insurance coverage you’ll potentially need
i) The amount of deductibles you want in your policy
There are numerous other factors the agent will take into consideration but you can see they consider the big picture. So before giving out a SSN, make sure you can trust the insurance company, because they can certainly give you a close estimate with other innocuous information about you and your driving habits.
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