I don’t know if you’ve seen the ads for Progressive Insurance Co. targeted at teens, but they (of course) accompanied by a Web site.

It’s actually a very good site, with lots of helpful information about auto insurance, coverage quizzes and other interesting stuff. Well, interesting to an insurance geek like me, anyway.

Originally, I found the ads puzzling. After all, most teen-agers are insured through their parents’ policy, where they get better rates. And auto insurance is not exactly the kind of things kids see as a status symbol (“Oh, mah Gawd! I cannot believe she is insured with State Farm. What was she thinking?!”).

But Progressive knows that very few teens who explore their site will actually wind up buying insurance from then, at least now. What they are doing is trying to explain the basics and help teens figure it out for themselves. The site even talks about the pros and cons of going solo.

So, even if this target market cannot afford Progressive now, it’s a name they’ll know and perhaps look to get a quote from three or four years down they line after they’re finishing up college. At least, that’s how a Progressive rep. explained it to me yesterday.

I have no idea whether it will work or not, but it’s another example of Progressive’s thinking outside the proverbial box. As the kids might say, “Kewl.” (Yes, I know I’m only 25 years old.)

The only danger will be if the anti-tobacco folks might start persecuting Progressive for pursuing the teen target market. “Look at all the kids you’ve hooked on insurance!” I could imagine them howling on “Nightline.”