Three years is the standard period of time insurance companies take a look at your driving record.

When you apply for new insurance, the insurance company will pull both a C.L.U.E. report and a DMV record on you. The timeframe they are looking at is generally three years. In fact, in some states, like Ohio, three years is all the insurance company gets to see.

If you are applying for new car insurance and you are sure that it has been more than three years since your DUI, don’t bother putting it on your application. The insurance company doesn’t need to know about it and you are not legally required to tell them about it. If it has been less than three years, the DUI will show on your driving record anyhow, and they will add it to your policy.

If they do end up finding something on your C.L.U.E. or driving record that you didn’t claim, your premium could be different than what they quoted without it. They could also cancel your policy if your infractions exceed their limit.

The insurance application you are filling out will ask for any DUIs during a certain time period.

After watching this SafeAuto Insurance commercial, you may end up choosing neither.

Summary

Commercial opens to whistling music and a guy talking on a cell phone. A woman walks up behind the guy and gives him a wedgie. It is the same guy through the whole commercial and we see him next in a hardware store. A contractor walks up behind him and gives him another wedgie.

Regressing into a toddler, Mayhem is back for a little in-car distraction.

Summary

Commercial opens with Allstate’s Mayhem strapped into a toddler’s seat in the back seat of the car. His car seat requires the use of both seats in the back. He has a Sippy cup in one hand and his other hand in a bag of cheerios.

Protecting your first love with Shelter Insurance is not a call to buy life insurance.

Summary

(Music playing) Commercial opens with a young man meticulously washing and cleaning his car in the driveway of a home. The scene changes to the inside of the home where the same young man is getting dressed for a special occasion. The scene changes again to the young man walking to his car with a bouquet of flowers. At this point we assume that he was cleaning his car for his date.

Is bubble wrap really a decent replacement for an insurance agent?

Summary

Commercial opens going through the door of the “Arbella Auto Insurance Therapy” office. Once through the door we see the therapist and also what we assume is his patient. The patient is sitting on a couch wrapped in bubble wrap.

Therapist: Feeling vulnerable?

Patient: (laughs) Oh, Yes. I bought my car insurance policy online, without an agent. Now I feel totally unprotected (sobs).

Scene changes to a home with a car driving up, screen is in a bluish tint. Onscreen is “SWITCH and when you combine auto and home, you could save 15% or more.”

Announcer: With a local Arbella independent agent you’ll get coverage that-well -covers you. Go to Arbella.com to find an independent agent near you.

Screen goes all blue and has the Arbella logo, with the Arbella catch phrases and “Arbella.com”

Announcer finishes and we go back to the therapist office where the patient tries to get more comfortable and crosses her legs. This makes some of the bubbles in the wrap pop.

Patient: (whispers) Excuse me.

Point of the Commercial

Arbella Insurance is driving home the point that buying insurance online is not always the best way to protect yourself. That when you do buy an insurance policy online you are left without the extra protection that an insurance agent can offer you that we don’t always think about.

What They Want you to Do

Arbella Insurance wants you to visit their website to see if there is an insurance agent that sells their insurance near you. I love it when companies make cut and dry commercials that tell you exactly what they want you to do; it makes for a much more effective advertisement.

My Opinion

This commercial has three things going for Arbella Insurance that make it a good commercial for this insurance company: humor, unforgettable visuals and telling the viewer directly what you want them to do after viewing the commercial. The humor and the unforgettable visual make the Arbella Insurance commercial stick in your head (don’t tell me you haven’t been thinking what would happen if you could wrap yourself up in bubble wrap). Telling you directly what they want you to do leaves little room for completely ignoring the commercial by wondering what the point was.

I give this commercial a thumbs up. Now, I wonder where I can buy enough bubble wrap to wrap myself in.