The Price Is Not Necessarily Right
Why comparison sites should follow Confused.com's lead in giving accurate quotes
Cardiff, UK (PRWEB) November 19, 2008 -- A recent independent study of the top five insurance comparison sites has found that Confused.com is the site that is most likely to give customers an accurate quote for car insurance.
The study found that after checking over 2,300 prices across the top five insurance aggregators, Confused.com returned an accurate motor insurance quote more often than the rest. In fact, Confused.com returned an accurate quote 96% of the time compared with 93% of the time for Gocompare and just 72% of the time for Moneysupermarket.
The research revealed that some sites make far too many assumptions about the customer in order to have a shorter application form and return the cheapest quote. But this does little to help the customer as either the final price could be considerably higher than the initial quote 'promised' by the comparison site, or there is a real possibility of being underinsured.
The main assumption that can make a quote look much cheaper is the voluntary excess. The higher this is, the cheaper the quote, so some sites will increase the assumed excess to £500 or £600. Whilst for younger drivers this is acceptable, for those who have built up some no claims bonus, they are generally looking to have a far lower voluntary excess of around £250.
For example, the kind of assumptions that some comparison sites make about drivers in order to display cheap car insurance quotes include:
| | - Voluntary excess set automatically to £500
- No modifications
- No secondary occupation
- No children
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As a result, customers could be shocked to find their final quote is considerably higher than their original quote after correcting the above assumptions to match their actual circumstances. Or customers may not even realise the assumptions have been made about them and end up with an insurance policy which isn't the best one for them.
John Poole, Research Director at Research and Marketing plus - the company behind the research -says "Confused.com came out top in terms of accuracy. We tested over 2,300 prices across five different comparison sites, so it was a significant study. People need to be aware that some other sites make a number of assumptions which can mean the price they see is not the price they get, but with Confused.com, in nearly all cases, it is."
Confused.com's application form makes far fewer assumptions and allows customers to do such things as choose their desired amount of voluntary excess - the kind of features that give Confused.com market-leading quote accuracy.
Carlton Hood, CEO of Confused.com comments, "We are looking out for the consumer by providing quotes that offer the right policy for the right price - that is why over 50% of the traffic to our site is repeat business; our customers know where they stand."
For further information please contact:
Press Office
Confused.com
02920 434398
Joanna Harte
Polhill Communications
020 7655 0550
Notes to editors
About Confused.com:
Confused.com is one of the UK's biggest and most popular price comparison services. Launched in 2002, it generates over one million quotes per month. It has expanded its range of comparison products over the last couple of years to include home insurance, travel insurance, pet insurance, van insurance, motorbike insurance, breakdown cover and energy, as well as financial services products including credit cards, loans, mortgages and life insurance.
Confused.com has 77 motor insurance partners, and customers can save up to on average £208. It also has a panel of 53 for home insurance, and customers who use Confused.com for home insurance can expect to save up to £186 (Based on average savings January - July 2008)
Confused.com is not a supplier, insurance company or broker. It provides a free, objective and unbiased comparison service. By using cutting-edge technology, it has developed a series of intelligent web-based solutions that evaluate a number of risk factors to help customers with their decision-making, subsequently finding them great deals on a wide-range of insurance products, financial services, utilities and more. Confused.com's service is based on the most up-to-date information provided by UK suppliers and industry regulators.
Confused.com is owned by the Admiral Group plc. Admiral listed on the London Stock Exchange in September 2004. Confused.com is regulated by the FSA.
About Research and Marketing Plus:
Research and Marketing Plus is an independent Research Agency established in 1968 and a partner company of the Market Research Society (MRS). It specialises in 'leading edge' research with a dedication to quality of the highest standards and has grown to become a UK wide agency providing a full consultancy service.
Details of study:
Research carried out for Confused.com by Research & Marketing Plus between 08/09/08 &12/09/08. The study ran 50 different insurance requests across Confused.com, Gocompare, Compare the Market, Tesco Compare & Moneysupermarket. The 10 cheapest quotes returned for each of the 50 insurance requests from each of the five companies were clicked through to see if the same price could be obtained from the insurance provider's website. See table for results.
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