I agree.  India will do a $6 to 1985.  Heck, my own $159 annual membership fee at HomeInfoMax.com gives me access to the same 1985-current title chain for a   $15 per APN fee and includes the documents, so why should anyone pay my $350  minimum fee for a title report? 

 Many reasons:

The website data is incomplete and unreliable.

 The minimum standards and practices for our abstracting profession are not met by an  India or a online database run.

The homeowner, as a consumer, expects to pay a certain premium price for professional services and can feel that $6 or $15 is too cheap for quality.

The additional effort to review the recorded maps, filed maps, assessors rolls, tax bills, sales histories lists, miscellaneous indices, assessment districts, and more will protect the client from undisclosed matters missed by online, quick searches or past title researches that were flawed.

My service is a real person with a real face that stands proudly behind a professional quality product and offers follow-up with a smile;  'been doin' it for 27 years now, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna change.