Car Insurance comparison sites have been seen as the answer to the public’s prayers when getting car insurance quotes. Only around 5 years ago were most of us ringing up numerous insurance companies to try and get the best quote. In the end we probably spent more phone calls than what we saved in getting the cheapest quotes.
But as we reveal in this article, car Insurance Comparison sites have downsides as well. We'll take a look at what they are and if comparison sites are still worth the hype.
One of the biggest problems with comparison sites is that they all come back with different results for your quote, this is strange. You would think that as you entered the same details into all the sites, and they sent the same details to numerous insurance companies, it should give you the exact same price, shouldn't it?
Well no, because some comparison sites will get higher commissions from certain insurers if they sell their policies. So what they do is artificially increase the prices for competition policies on their site. So for example if the comparison site came back with 2 quotes that were close such as Asda Insurance at £290 and Norwich Union at £320, you think you would choose Asda, well no. Norwich Union maybe paying £60 commission to the comparison site rather than Asda paying £10 commission.
So before the results are returned to you, the comparison site may alter them to show Norwich at £320 and Asda have mysteriously risen to £340. So by artificially increasing the Asda price they are guiding you to choosing Norwich Union and increasing their commission.
It's our belief that comaprison sites are still good but don't forget about going direct to the source of the policy. If the company that is providing the policy doesn't need to pay a commision to something like a comparison site, chances are they will pass that on to you by making your policy cheaper.
Some of the companies that sell direct are; Direct Line, Norwich Union Direct, Tesco's
|
