Insurance companies make money out of their ability to underwrite - to measure the probability of the risk occurring on the particular asset class, taking into account all the risk factors associated with it, with the help of actuarial, statistical and probability data. It is probably the most difficult aspect of this business and the premiums that ought to reflect the competency of the insurance provider in trying to ascertain the level of risk and make the most out of its profit making ability are spelled out to the customer as Insurance quotes.

Insurance Quotes are basically the respective premiums, depending on what kind of policy the client is looking to take, that are to be provided to the client in the appropriate form, presented professionally when the client requests for it. Most insurance providers have templates as some standard ways to be able to provide such information and they typically ensure that all their marketing and sales channels, including the Internet have this preset, templated form of providing Insurance Quotes.

Depending on the country the Insurance company is operating in, it so happens that some of the policies will be Tariffed - the premiums and the underwriting is already done by a federal agency and which overlooks the smooth functioning of the Insurance industry. In such cases, the insurance providers have to ensure that there is no mismatch in the prescribed quotes ( that ought to remain the same across the industry, no matter which insurance provider gives a quote) and is in tune with the guidelines of that said federal agency in question.

Insurance providers have now adopted different ways to be able to provide quotes as quickly as they can to their customers and with the advent of Internet as a powerful medium, the quotes have been furnished online too. Every Insurer's website comes with calculators, software and other tools which can provide all the information that a client would need to be able to make proper decisions with regards to covering risk. When a client enters the relevant data online in a pre-templated, software based calculator online, the software would throw out a possibly accurate quote, depending on the data that has been entered. New innovative methods for providing quotes like mobile messaging and toll-free self-answering systems are also in place to be able to do the same.

As mentioned, the tariffed quotes remain the same across the industry, among all the insurers  while the de-tariffed ones would differ. The Insurance quotes, however, are just like prices a company sets for its products and services and higher quotes might mean extra services and other perks.  Some quotes, as it goes without saying, might be more complicated to be able to be proffered directly to the client on an immediate basis and might involve a lot more complications, for example, Marine policies.

The ability to quote quickly and appropriately, however, might determine the success of the Insurer, everything else being the same, in the face of intense competition.