CarInsurance.com

QuinStreet, a California-based vertical marketing and online media company made news at the close of the past decade with some of the most costly domain name purchases ever. In just 13 months, the business has bought three massive domain names in the insurance industry, culminating in the purchase of CarInsurance.com on November 8, 2010.

QuinStreet's crown jewel was already a highly lucrative consumer site for evaluating and purchasing auto insurance plans. With that single purchase, the firm cemented its position as the industry leader in online insurance at a time when internet purchasing was exploding.

CarInsurance.com, like other domains owned by QuinStreet Inc, is intended to assist users to find services – in this case, vehicle insurance. "We help you make wise insurance decisions," the business says.

According to a prominent web host, the typical price of a secondary market domain is in the thousands. QuinStreet paid $49.7 million for carinsurance.com in 2010. QuinStreet, situated in Foster City, California, is a publicly-traded marketing business. QuinStreet has previously purchased other insurance-related domain names before acquiring CarInsurance.com. QuinStreet paid $16 million for the domain name and website of Insure.com in 2009, and $35.6 million for insurance.com (along with other associated assets) in 2010.

Price: $49.7 million