Well....I live in Norway, and I've been doing that for years...

About twice a year i log on to an online "broker" and ask for a price for all my insurance, cars, home, travel, etc.

Whitin a day or to i recieve offers from anywhere from 3-8 companies offering insurance.

If I want to sell my home or my car I can just advertise it on a "Norwegian version of e-bay). 99% of homes in Norway are sold this way - we can just drop the real-estate agents completely if we want.

I'm still amazed about how week consumer-power is in the US. It seems that companies are making all the rules and consumers have all these "choices" , but in reality have no rights at all (Yes you can choose your telco provider, but you cannot buy whatever phone you want, and by a subscription from whom ever you want - and switch provider every month if you want to)

K.