30 April
(source: in-house)
Find Car Insurance
How should you find car insurance nowadays?
Is a price comparison site the best way to do it? And what about going
direct to a leading UK car insurer?
The usual approach for most people these days is to use a price
comparison site to find car insurance. You cannot argue
with the fact that they can save you time and money.
What they don't do, however, is provide any quality control. That falls
to you if you choose to find car insurance from an
aggregator service. Indeed, the cheaper you go, generally speaking, the
poorer the quality of cover you can expect.
When you find car insurance with a car insurance comparison
system, there is always a risk that the attraction of a low
price will effect your policy choice in a way that acts against rather
than for you. Clearly, without a claim, you face no adverse
consequences. But, if a claim is needed then the higher excess and
thinner cover of the cheapest policies will lead to considerable costs
that fall to you rather than the insurance company.
Essentially the premise on which price comparison sites are based is an
over-simplification. Yes, price matters, but it is not all that you
should base your choice on when you find car insurance
through a comparison site or by any other means. You need to know what
cover you're getting; while some awareness of the company that is
provinig you with that insurance cover and its track record is of value
too.
If you do find car insurance via an aggregator, do be
prepared to look at the motor insurer's own website if you need to get
better policy information. This is usually needed.
There are various reasons why you would choose to bypass a price
comparison system in favour of getting direct motor quotes. These
include where an insurance company has a special offer or deal; where
they provide a specialist service, for instance, women-only cover; or
where you are looking to fast-track to a quality product and don't want
to get 'bogged down' by checking through more budget-focused cover that
features most prominently on an aggregator system.
Taking everything into account, although most people prefer to use a
comparison system, a good case can be made for going direct to find car
insurance. In a nutshell, that case relates to enhanced
quality-control, the better reliability of well-established brands and
the fact that in a competitive market, the market-leading brands will
be close on price for similar insurance policies; so rendering the need
for a car insurance price comparison somewhat redundant if you are keen
to select on the basis of cover, the more prudent way to find car
insurance in this country.
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