South Korean auto shares rise

Hyundai Motor America said January sales rose 24 percent year-over-year, the automaker's best result since the government's "Cash for Clunkers" program spurred a rush of customers in August. Sales of the Santa Fe jumped 43.4 percent from a year ago to 7,204 last month.

Reuters reports that popular, low-cost models and savvy marketing helped Hyundai grab market share in the United States and China last year and analysts are optimistic the firm would win more and keep its edge over rivals this year, as Toyota is mired in its largest ever recall.

Hyundai posted a record quarterly operating profit last week as its small cars proved popular with recession-weary buyers and plans to raise sales this year by 11 percent to 3.46 million cars, trucks and buses.

 

Auto sales up in January

Continuing the trend of the last few months, domestic auto sales for Ford and General Motors showed strong improvement in January. Ford sold 116,534 vehicles, a 25 percent jump over the first month of 2009, while General Motors jumped 14 percent on sales of 146,825 vehicles. Chrysler bucked the trend, dropping 8 percent from last year.

Much of the gain may have been at the expense of Toyota, which had to recall more than 5 million cars in the U.S. alone due to a sticking gas pedal.

Toyota said Tuesday that January sales fell 16% from a year earlier, worse than a forecast of a 12% year-over-year decline from sales tracker Edmunds.com.
 

How People Buy Insurance
More people purchase insurance in person after researching online

According to a 2009 Forrester survey, more U.S. consumers research online but buy insurance directly in person. The research surveyed 48,412 adults in the United States.

Growing number of customers turn to the Web to research and buy insurance. Customers may start their research online, but many end up purchasing insurance policy in person, through the call center or via mail.

When we asked U.S. online adults who got a quote before buying insurance, what channel they used: 38% received a quote through the phone while 33% received a quote online. The phone and online channels accounted for nearly 66% of auto insurance quotes. Only 21% of online adults received a quote through an in-person channel (e.g. agent).

But the story changes when auto insurance transitioned from quote to application. We asked U.S. online adults who bought an auto insurance policy in the past year what channel they used to apply for auto insurance: only 18% applied online; 32% via the phone and 38% in-person through an agent. Our data shows that the agent channel still provides the most influence on auto insurance applications and purchases.