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The Internet is a good place to find cheap term life insurance--but not much else.

The Internet should be the perfect antidote to the unpleasant task of shopping for insurance. In theory, at least, instead of spending your lunch hour calling agents or devoting an evening to going over policies at your kitchen table, you can shop any time of the day or night, tap huge databases for the cheapest policies and then buy the best one over the Internet--quickly and anonymously.

Unfortunately, if you're expecting all that when you surf the Web for insurance, you're headed for a wipeout. When we explored the online offerings, we found a little information about auto, homeowners, disability, long-term-care and health insurance, but hardly any quotes. You can find a low-price, term-insurance policy on the Web, but along with the useful destinations are a lot of dead ends: A few sites exist simply to generate leads for agents who pay to get your name. Or you may fill out a detailed form only to discover that you need to wait for an agent to mail you a quote. You won't necessarily locate the best deals unless you visit several sites.

BEST OF THE LIFE INSURANCE SITES

We requested quotes from a slew of sites for $150,000, 30-year level-term policies on Robert and Deena Stuart, two healthy 26-year-olds from Arvada, Colo., who have a 4-year-old and a baby on the way (see the box on page 84). Some sites stood out:

LOWEST PRICES. The lowest quotes for the Stuarts came from InstantQuote (www.instantquote.com) and Quotesmith www.quotesmith.com)--a 30-year level-term policy for Deena at $163 a year and one for Robert at $202 a year, both from First Penn-Pacific. InstantQuote and Quotesmith provide "real-time" quotes--that is, you can see quotes online within seconds. ConsumerQuote (www.consumerquote.com), which mailed the quotes within a few days, and MasterQuote (www.masterquote.com), whose quotes arrived more than a week later, cited the same low-price policies as Quotesmith. Among several quote services that do not provide prices for 30-year policies, TermQuote (www.rcinet.com/~termquote), which also mails quotes, provided the lowest 20-year rate: $130 for Deena and $149 for Robert, both with First Penn-Pacific.

Term policies purchased online cost the same as policies purchased through an agent. In fact, most quote services are agencies that receive commissions when they sell you a policy. Still, shopping online can help you find the lowest rates--which you may be able to lock in even if you end up buying the old-fashioned way.

BEST FOR POLICY INFORMATION. When you receive an insurance quote, you don' t know whether you'll get that price until you take a physical exam. If the quote service doesn't obtain enough medical-history information, you may be charged a much higher rate after the exam.

For example, InstantQuote and Quotesmith automatically quoted prices for the least expensive, "preferred plus" rate class without asking enough questions to determine whether the Stuarts would qualify. However, both services provided quotes and detailed information about all the policies in their databases that fit the criteria Quotesmith gave us 49 quotes for Robert, including several rate classes for each policy); most quote services provide quotes for only five companies and one rate class. Most important, InstantQuote and Quotesmith were the only sites we found that include each policy's underwriting criteria--the list the company uses to decide who qualifies for each rate. It's easier to compare rate classes at InstantQuote. Several companies' prices for each rate class are all listed on one grid. Each company has a separate grid showing its under-writing criteria for each rate class.

Use the underwriting criteria to predict whether you'll qualify for that price, then scroll across InstantQuote's or down Quotesmith's list to see how much the lowest-price companies charge for the next-best rate class. Also compare policy features--such as rules for converting to a cash-value policy and limits on renewal.

BEST PRESCREENING. If you don't want to spend time wading through InstantQuote's or Quotesmith's information to find a price you can count on, go to a quote service that asks more detailed health questions and is more likely to match you up with the correct class. ConsumerQuote and MasterQuote asked more questions about medical condition than InstantQuote and Quotesmith, but provided much less policy information, fisted no underwriting criteria and provided quotes from only five companies.

Quicken InsureMarket (www.insuremarket.com) and InsWeb (www.insweb.com) asked some of the most detailed medical questions but had fewer than ten companies apiece in their databases. That may be too small a pool to find the best deal. Generally, quote services with more than 50 companies in their databases tended to find the same low rates.

ONLINE QUOTES. Sites that provide real-time quotes have advantages in addition to speed: They keep you off mailing lists and make it easy to adjust variables, such as length of term and amount. InstantQuote, InsureMarket, InsWeb, NationsBank's insurance site (www.nationsbank.com/insurance), QuickQuote (www.quickquote.com) and Quotesmith offer immediate quotes from multiple companies. John Hancock (www.jhancock.com) and Lincoln Benefit Life (www.getinsured.com) provide immediate quotes, but only for their own companies. Fidelity (www.fidelity.com) and Schwab (www.schwab.com) each provide real-time term quotes for only one company.

QuickQuote--which has about 35 companies in its database, primarily because it includes only companies rated A or better by A.M. Best, an insurance ratings service--found policies from Transamerica that cost a little more than the First Penn-Pacific policies: $177 for Deena's 30-year level-term policy and $240 for Robert's.

BEST OF THE REST

Quicken InsureMarket and InsWeb supply auto-insurance quotes for a few companies. But after spending a lot of time filling out the detailed questionnaire, you get meager results. So far, only a few companies offer real-time quotes and only in a few states. In most cases, companies mail or e-mail information within a few days. Others refer you to local agents who will call with a quote--which is only a little less time-consuming than using the Yellow Pages.

Progressive (www.auto-insurance.com) provides realtime quotes for its own policies and up to three other ma or companies' in many states, but the other companies' prices are based on rates filed with the state insurance department and aren't always up to date. Electric Insurance (www.electricinsurance.com), Gelco (www.geico.com), Nationwide Direct (www.ndirect.com) and 20th Century (www.20thcentins.com) will mail you quotes if you live in a state they cover.

The remaining kinds of insurance are barely represented on the Web. A few sites let you e-mail a form to agents for homeowners, disability, cash-value fife and limited kinds of health insurance, but an agent will usually call with follow-up questions before you can get a price.

If you need help finding an agent in your area, NetQuote (www.netquote.com) and the Insurance Shopping Network (www.800insureme.com) will forward your information to up to four nearby agents who paid to receive your name. You can also look up independent agents in your area at the Independent Insurance Agents of America site (www.iiaa.org).

Quicken InsureMarket and InsWeb are good places to start. Both have background information about various kinds of insurance and provide online worksheets to help you determine the kind of insurance you need, how much you need and how long you will need it.