The Internet is a wonderful, glorious thing for car insurance quote shoppers. They get to enjoy finding quotes from companies all across the country with a single click of the button! The catch is, shopping for car insurance online also means putting your personal information online, and that's something that has many insurance shoppers thinking twice before they pick up their mouse.

With all the press currently focusing on identity theft it's a wonder we ever step out of our houses. Did you know that over 40% of identity thefts are "low tech" crimes? That means that someone stole their identity while they were walking down the street (picked their pocket), shopping at the store (grabbed their credit card when they left it behind) or sitting in their houses (going through their mail). Only 11% of identity thefts in 2008 were the result of clever hackers.

So why is it we fearlessly pull out our credit card at the grocery store and flinch when it's time to enter our social security numbers into a secure quote search engine?

There's always going to be the chance that you could have your identity stolen when you're shopping on the web, no matter how small. The good news is that even if the numbers you just saw don't convince you that shopping for car insurance quotes online might be the smartest thing you've done this week, the fact that you can shop for insurance without handing out a smidgen of your personal information should do the trick.

What ho? Buy car insurance online without handing out your social security number for everyone to see? Well, yes-and no. You can't actually buy car insurance without giving out your social security number or driver's license number so your insurer can check out your driving record. That's part of how they determine your car insurance rates, after all! Fortunately, it's not the only part-and those other parts are definitely working in your favor!

Without your personal info your new car insurance company can't give you a completely accurate rate, but they can give you a pretty good idea of what you're looking at. How? Insurance companies use an almost ridiculously complicated algorithm to figure out your car insurance rates that takes into account not only your driving history but also your:

a) Zip code

b) Car Make and Model

c) Job

d) Age

e) Car's safety features

f) Insurance needs

g) Deductibles

As you can see, in the grand scheme of things your driving history is only a very small piece of a very large puzzle! Without your social security number or driver's license any car insurance company can put together a reasonable estimate of what your car insurance rates are going to be. With that number in hand you can comparison shop, picking out the best deal before handing over your personal information (preferably by phone or in a face to face meeting with your insurance agent) and going to sleep at night with the satisfaction of knowing that you're 100% protected from having someone steal your identity online.