I've just been through the annual dredge of trying to renew home and contents, including the bikes.
AA just stuck the premium up £100 with zero claims so decided to use uswitch.
Spent 20 minutes inputting all of my needs and a nice list of quotes is produced - all seems well. That is until you open the quotes and find out that they contain very little of the cover that was requested!! It would be so easy to assume that the quotes produced match the request and just sign up for it.
How do people approach this every year - just ring a select few directly?
b
This is particulalry bad for home/contents insurance in my experience. Maybe if you just want to take the basic insurance product with no add ons, and have no unusual circumstances it would be OK, but I spend ages reading the small print to find that the exclusions mean the policy is no good for me...and move onto the enxt one!
Easy/Lazy way - Use a price comparison site that will check 100 other sites using pretty much defaul parameters to get quotes back. These will ignore anything special or different in your requests
Harder better way - Manually go to 20-30 sites entering in all of your details each time along with the special requests to get a quote for what you actually want.
I use easy for stuff I don't care about and hard for my more interesting cars
That is until you open the quotes and find out that they contain very little of the cover that was requested!!
Yeah I found the same. Total BS waste of time, you have to properly read all the small print to spot some of the errors as well.
How does teh saying go?
If you can't see the product you are the product?
The ones I use save all my details, so I don't have to enter it all again. Particularly useful when it comes to car insurance (although I found a cheaper way to insure my car (someone someday WILL want a referall and get us both £50 off, won't they?! PM me 😥 ))
but yeah, confused.com saves all the details and I seem to find a cheaper price every year, with full cover for my bikes. So I guess that's the point.
We use them to narrow it down to the 3 or 4 you then go direct to. Weeds out the crazy expensive ones.
joshvegas
How does teh saying go?
A poor workman blames the tools?
'The Point' probably isn't to ensure everyone gets the right insurance for them at the lowest possible price.
Some are owned, often not directly to avoid too much attention by insurance cos, one of the largest is owned by Admiral, I forget which, it would amaze me if Admiral or one of it's many sub brands isn't the cheapest via them for most people.
The rest will be working on commission, like an old school Insurance Brooker I suppose.
The likes of Direct Line won't pay commission, so you can only go direct.
A lot of people will just read their renewal offer, when they add £200 to last years premium, curse and pay it, some might spend 20 mins looking for something better and usually find one and some, like me who are tight we devote whole mornings to it.
A poor workman blames the tools?
They make money from you switching they make no money from being particularly helpful. It matters not that you switch only that you switch via their link.
ie it isn't a tool for the person looking for a change because its not a price comparison site it's merely a list of supplier prepared to pay them.
Comparison sites are driven by price competition. Nothing else. The needs of groups of people on stw are very different from most - we have expensive widgets we cruise around on which generally don't fall into an insurer's standard idea of risk.
When you answer the questions on your meerkat / opera singing / U site of choice, they have to ask you all the questions that all the insurers want answers to. So you will find it's a slower process than going direct. Then when you click through to your chosen company, you may/will find the cover isn't quite how you imagined it... so rinse and repeat.
Personally, I go to a couple of companies I think have good reputations. I go direct, update details and see what the quote is like. Sometimes I add a third or fourth company in for shits and giggles. But I don't really bother with the comparison sites as I know how driven they are towards price and how damaging that is. If the prices for my main two are about the same, I'm reasonably comfortable about it. The main two are two of the big players in the market - direct competitors of each other. And, as I say, they both have a decent enough reputation.
Their point is to make money for the owner of the site from adverts / commission from the insurers.
I've found the price comparison sites to be shit, just sucking up your info, so they can spam/ring you the next year. As you say, once you dig into the quotes, the coverage is useless or the excess is ridiculously high or there such a shonky company, you really don't want to deal with them.
I've narrowed my search down to Direct line (currently on my 3rd renewal, which is unheard of) LV (was a couple of pounds cheaper last year..), admiral and the AA. Enough quotes to make sure I'm not being completely ripped off but with companies that will deal with a claim & not just shrug at you...
Their point is to make money for the owner of the site from adverts / commission from the insurers.
This ^^^^^^^
Getting you a better deal on insurance is way down on their list of priorities
I just ping between Direct Line and John Lewis every year, saves 25% or whatever their new recruit discount is and they both have decent cover and most importantly I trust them to pay out if I actually need it.
Getting you a better deal on insurance is way down on their list of priorities
Pretty sure it doesn't even feature 🙂
I have found their main use is to go back to your current insurance when they supply you with a take-the-piss increase on your renewal, and say the competition is doing this, can you match? I had RAC quote me £180, all I did was ring up with rival breakdown cover quote and they dropped it to £95...
Their point is to make money for the owner of the site from adverts / commission from the insurers.
And (possibly more importantly) harvest your personal information and approximate time of renewal so people can target you with marketing next year too!
I use them for Broadband and Energy wills where the product is essentially the same anyway, but I've never found them useful, or even the cheapest for Insurance - Direct Line, Aviva...
one of the largest is owned by Admiral, I forget which,
confused = were Admiral (who are also elephant, diamond and some others) until recently but are now owned by the same people as Uswitch
gocompare = were owned by Esure (who are also Sheila's wheels) so I assume there are still close links.
I think it's surprising the FCA or CMA were happy with apparent comparison sites being under the control of one insurer. Perhaps that's why they've been sold off.
Use Quidco Compare for max cashback (they are confused, rebranded).
Years ago, when they first appeared, they were somewhat helpful and saved you time searching about but it didn't take long for the insurers to get wise to them and either not provide information (e.g. Direct Line) or they just started up their own price comparison sites (or partnered with existing companies that did) so you generally can't trust the results anyway (even if the cover was what you asked for).
We use them to narrow it down to the 3 or 4 you then go direct to. Weeds out the crazy expensive ones.
This.
I know the actual comparison sites job is to share my data in order to make money for its owners.
Comparison sites work reasonably well if you fall in the range of normal as defined by the insurers.
Car insurance - they work well until you drive something exotic or want to drive it somewhere unusual or compete / show in someway.
House insurance - works well as long as you don't collect anything or have hobbies involving equipment.
Travel insurance - works well if you do 2 weeks package holiday in Benidorm. Less well if you travel independently to obscure places doing multiple activities.
Life Insurance - don't even go there. Everyone's needs are too different.
I just looked at my home insurance as we're moving on Moneysupermarket - best deal 'they' could find ranged from £300.
Been with Direct line for years and yet they wouldn't give me an online quote, instead requesting I call them.
Same info into QuoteMeHappy got the same cover for £200 plus a higher single article limit and better bike cover. It was a no-brainer.
Getting you a better deal on insurance is way down on their list of priorities
And yet.. every year I pay less. And so often I laugh at how much people pay to insure their bikes on here. So I’ll keep using them and you do what you do.
The likes of Direct Line won’t pay commission, so you can only go direct.
I’ve narrowed my search down to Direct line (currently on my 3rd renewal, which is unheard of)
I just ping between Direct Line and John Lewis every year,
Been with Direct line for years and yet they wouldn’t give me an online quote, instead requesting I call them.
Over the years I've tried Direct Line for car, van and contents insurance when I'm doing the rounds of renewals- filled in all the details the same as I do on any other site - and same as Dovebiker - pretty much inevitably it won't provide a quote, doesn't give a reason for not giving a quote and says to call them instead. Thing is - if I wanted to call instead of use their website I'd have called them in the first place.... I wouldn't have just filled in several pages of details online - they can only be wanting to ask the same questions and get the same answers. And if they'd prefer me to call... why not make that invitation at the start rather than the end of the process.
And yet.. every year I pay less.
I don't think the OP's point is about paying more or less - its about not being offered what they asked for. The apparent service being offered by the sites is to tailor a quote to your needs based on the details you submit - if the deals they offer don't take those needs into account - then cheap or expensive they're useless, possibly even catastrophic, should you accept the recommendations the sites give in good faith and later find out you're not suitable insured.
having the site save your details for future to save you time come renewal time is mute if those details are still ignored by the site and the policies offered don't actually cover your requirements.
And yet.. every year I pay less. And so often I laugh at how much people pay to insure their bikes on here
I bet I pay less than you for bike insurance! £0 total over 40 odd years of riding bikes.
And yet.. every year I pay less.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...
Cheap. Good cover. Pays claims.
Pick any two.
Thanks all. Some of these options like Direct Line won't even cover my bikes, I like to cover them for accidental damage and stuff and they are 2k plus. The legal assistance stuff is also shite when you check the small print - I assumed most legal eventualities were included but very limited.
Looks like I'm going to be £500 lighter soon...
Aviva has good cover, worth a look.
From what I can see, they are there to fund commercial TV stations.
I have found their main use is to go back to your current insurance when they supply you with a take-the-piss increase on your renewal, and say the competition is doing this, can you match? I had RAC quote me £180, all I did was ring up with rival breakdown cover quote and they dropped it to £95…
This. I've been with Admiral for car and home insurance for years now. Every year the renewal quote is £100-£200 more expensive than last year. I phone them, say "money supermarket says it's much cheaper elsewhere" and they knock the difference back off. It's a massive waste of everyone's time. Just fix the f*cking price and save us all the effort.
Thing is – if I wanted to call instead of use their website I’d have called them in the first place….
That’s underwriting for you. Face it, you’re either odd, live somewhere odd, or they’ve worked out your future is likely to be really odd.
I think it’s surprising the FCA or CMA were happy with apparent comparison sites being under the control of one insurer.
No different to an estate agent simultaneously valuing your home and selling you one.
Admiral and Direct Line are also the same or owned by the same people. But alot of these 'insurance companies' are not insurance companies at all, just brokers. They are effectively shop floors that sell policies on to underwriters so don't actually insure you. They are just a middle man for the actual insurers.
Aviva has good cover, worth a look.
Got a cheaper deal with Aviva via a comparison site compared to going to Aviva direct one year. If a comparison site directs thousands of people to Aviva via their site then they will get a discount some of which they can pass on. But if you go direct you're just one person with limited purchase power.
Cheap. Good cover. Pays claims.
Pick any two.
Unfortunately you're confusing (geddit) insurance with an old MTB expression. Easily done I suppose.
Easily done I suppose.
But largely correct I'd imagine. There's a point at which the value of your custom to the insurer isn't worth any effort on their part to not stiff you when it comes to the crunch. I'm willing to bet that "doing nothing" is pretty cheap.
Use the price comparison site to find the offer you want. Then copy the URL, which will often look like
Then remove the parameters from the URL that aren't needed
https://www.insurancecompanyXYZ123.com/your/package/details?package=1234abcdef &source=comparethemarketetc
then in a new browser session click via Quidco / Top Cashback to that insurer, and once the click has logged the revisit the amended URL
https://www.insurancecompanyXYZ123.com/your/package/details?package=1234abcdef
And chances are you'll get around £50-£100 cashback. Works for most "compare" products - mobile phones, insurance etc. Let them do the hard work, you take the cashback.
To make you think you've found the best deal with very little effort.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…
Cheap. Good cover. Pays claims.
Pick any two.
I would say it's a fallacy to assume that paying more for premiums means an insurer is more likely to pay out. If anything they already know you're a mug for not bothering to check what's cheaper.
Anecdote: eSure were cheapest on price comparison for me, and they've paid out quickly and painlessly for a recent claim.
