Price Comparisson Sites

Why price comparison sites aren’t the be-all and end-all

The internet is a wonderful tool, especially when it comes to carrying out research. It’s particularly useful for shopping around when it’s time to take out a new car or home insurance policy, allowing users to gain a large number of quotes in a matter of minutes, making their decision on which policy to take out a much easier process. It also provides an extremely quick way for consumers to see how certain variables – such as the level of voluntary excess they’re willing to pay – will affect the price of their premium.

One way in which people have really taken to gathering insurance quotes in recent years is by heading to price comparison sites – and while it’s clear that these sites do offer a wealth of information in a fraction of the time it would take to visit each individual provider’s site and request a quote one-by-one, it’s also hugely important to realise that they won’t necessarily provide you with the best price or overall package for your needs.

The reason? Some big name insurance providers choose not to give quotes via online comparison sites, choosing instead to avoid paying commission to such service providers and pass that saving on directly to the consumer. So when you next do an insurance comparison search, be aware that the cheapest deal that appears on your screen might not be as competitive as you could get from a provider that chooses to eschew comparison sites.

Your best bet is to head to some of the bigger name insurance providers’ sites individually and get a quote from them too. Yes, it’ll mean spending a little more time in front of the screen – but it’ll be worth it if you find you can shave a significant amount off what you previously thought was the best deal available to you.

That’s not to say that using price comparison sites is a pointless process; clearly, they provide a useful service. The best strategy is to get the additional quotes from individual sites as well as the output from your comparison search – if you’re prepared to put in a little extra leg work when it comes to gathering those extra quotes you could be handsomely rewarded.