Insurance - comparison sites are conning everyone

Insurance - comparison sites are conning everyone

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spud989

Original Poster:

2,770 posts

182 months

Tuesday 26th July 2011
quotequote all
I've just been through the annual rigmarole of trying to get a cheaper quotation and found that, even more so than in previous years, comparison sites are doing nothing for me. Insuring the Z4 was going to cost 4 figures going through any of them, despite being 25, having my own home with a garage, OK post code, 4 ncb, etc.

Finally accepted the offer of £820 through a well known broker, which is a slight discount on last year. However, unless I'd seen the name of said broker passed around on PH before, I'd never have come across it. I would, like the majority of the public, just assume that the comparison sites are as far as everything goes, and year on year they seem to become ever more inflated in their estimations, no matter your circumstance.

Two things:

1) Does £820 sound reasonable considering my circumstances?
2) How much money could the rest of the country save if they did a bit of legwork through brokers instead of assuming everything will arrive courtesy of a singing cartoon, Mr Creosote or the fking meerkats or Mongolia, or wherever?

spud989

Original Poster:

2,770 posts

182 months

Tuesday 26th July 2011
quotequote all
Raize said:
Really? Tell me more about this "phoning up actual brokers" you have discovered. Maybe this could catch on!
Although in my case what the comparison sites spit out as over £3000, brokers deem "uninsurable" laugh
Go and ask 100 people in the street how they decide who insures their car. Of those who drive, the vast majority will be a combination of comparison sites/accepting the renewal of their existing provider. Sarcasm aside, it's just not the 'done thing' for a lot of people and I'm curious to know why. Although, I accept that the benefits will be greater to a PH crowd than to a Yaris owner who can probably be serviced just as well through a comparison site. But they're not everyone

spud989

Original Poster:

2,770 posts

182 months

Tuesday 26th July 2011
quotequote all
Robbo101 said:
If only Motor Insurers DID make money on the premium income they receive. On average, for every £1 they get in, they pay out £1.20 for Damages & Costs. Oh & top of that theres the small issue of paying for staff, rent on Offices, advertising & all the other sundries that arise for any Company.

Were it not for the other types of business they underwrite & the income they receive from the investments they invest the premiums in, then todays Insurance renewals would be considerably higher. Whilst I dont anticipate most people will have much if any sympathy for them, a little balance on this subject ( & all the other threads on "extortionate Insurance Companies") might be in order.
It's not them making money I have issue with at all - my issue is the difference between 'mainstream' insurers (which dominate comparison sites) and those which are accessed by brokers.