Finding a good domain name these days is about as hard as winning the lottery. Unless you're willing to pay and arm and a leg to buy a name from someone, finding a name thats not registered and under 20 characters can be quite a task.
Rule #1: You must have a dot COM.
I don't like using any other extensions unless its a dot ORG or dot EDU(I'll go into further detail on why in a later post). What you are trying to do with your website is establish some sort of comfort and peace of mind for people who are landing on your pages. You must present yourself as a reputable and dependable source for what ever it is you are advertising for people to interact with your website. Having a good dot COM is the first step in starting a successful online business.
Be Creative! Come up with a list of keywords that relate to your website's content and try to put them together in a way that makes sense. For example, insurancequoteauto.com or liabilityauto.com. While it may be a hard name for someone to type in, its just as easy to click on as insurance.com. Remember, most of your visitors are going to be clicking through.
I use the bulk register feature on Godaddy.com to search for available domains. You can also use PC Names which has some cool features to find available domains. You can type in a bunch at once to see which ones are available. If you want to purchase a domain from someone else, here are a few websites you can search domains for sale.
SnapNames
Great Domains
Buy Domains
Sedo