One in five US respondents to a recent comScore survey said that they have purchased car insurance online, and 32% of those surveyed who have not purchased auto insurance online before, say they will likely do so in the future.

“Consumer preferences and attitudes toward online insurance channels indicate a growing regard for these channels as a better way to search for policies and engage with issuers,” said Susan Kleinman of comScore in a press release.

The recent numbers back up the dramatic growth in online auto insurance that comScore reported in its 2010 report. Notably, of those surveyed that have not purchased auto insurance online before, 17% less said that they are “unlikely to purchase online in the future,” dropping from 39% in 2010 (and 48% in 2009) to only 22% this year.

Additionally, the Internet was the second most used method of purchasing auto insurance in the survey, passing “with a local agent over the phone,” with 5% more people making their purchases online than in 2010.

This is further evidence of the increasing trend of shopping for car insurance online – and in fact, all types of insurance – that we’ve seen and promoted over the last ten years. This trend will almost certainly continue, with more people shopping for auto insurance online this year and in the future.

ComScore based its annual report on a research panel of 1 million US consumers as well as on a survey of 4,000 US Internet users in April 2011.

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