CAR INSURANCE NEWS UPDATE SERIES

Buying Car Insurance Online -  Review

With more and more people buying insurance online, how can you be sure you are really getting the best deal?

 Price comparison sites minimise the effort involved in buying insurance because only one form needs to be completed. There is, however, a built-in conflict of interest.

When they choose the insurance policy, price comparison sites also choose  their own commission. As they are funded entirely by their commissions and the central function of any business is to maximise profits, the customer's expectation that they will be shown the very best quotes could be an over-simplification. The customer, perhaps unwittingly, is putting his faith in a 'black box' system with more inputs than simply value to the customer. That is why when we introduce our price comparison service in spring of next year, it will be powered by Seopa - a genuine low price independent provider.

Perhaps because price comparison sites do not call themselves insurance brokers (although that is what they are), and perhaps because people are  more comfortable with computer algorthyms choosing their insurance rather than a more old-fashioned system, there is a surprising faith in this way of buying that most consumers would not apply in other contexts.

Consider how people shop on ebay or Amazon. It would certainly be quicker to pay ebay or Amazon a commission to find you, for example, an MP3 player of their choice but no-one would do this for obvious and sensible reasons. And yet, financial services are often sold in this way, a model that customers have grown used to without stopping to challenge its validity. That is why we have been particularly careful in asessing which Price comparison system is right for this site.

Sites such as this one take an approach that removes the conflict of interest for those who choose to buy direct from insuers while our price comparison service, when we introduce it, will effectively eliminates the above-mentioned 'black box' effect. The customer knows exactly what each company has quoted along with the nature of the policy and can obtain multiple quotes in just a few minutes.

In addition, some of the best value insurance companies do not work with price comparison sites. The only convenient way to check them is to use sites such as this or Headlinehouse.com which provide one of the most comprehensive listings of named insurers you'll find on the net.

So what does all this mean? What is the best approach that balances a minimum of effort against the best possible value? By all means use our price comparison service, but if you want to be thorough, check one or two insuers directly too. You could be surprised.