UK Insurance - Reviews

Overview of buying car insurance online in the UK

Most people elect to use a price comparison system to find car insurance in the UK. But are they right to do so? Well, sometimes a car insurance comparison service is the best choice. But, very often, it's not, for the reasons explored on this site.

We will also look at when a price comparison site is the best choice.

With a car insurance comparison system, as the 'price comparison' label indicates, the main focus is price, that is, a low price. Thus, when your only concern is to get the cheapest quote, they are a good resource for your car insurance search as by displaying the best prices of 100s, even 1000s of providers, you are sure to find very cheap cover.

Many will buy the cheapest car insurance found in this way, without checking what they are getting at that price. They can, of course, expect to get very basic cover, with, in all probability, a very high excess. They shouldn't expect any courtesy car arrangements, for example, when they buy one of these highly 'no frills' car insurance policies.

The result is that should they have an accident for which they need to claim, many of the resultant costs will need to be met by them rather than the insurance company. There is no other way to cut the cost of the car insurance premium.

Most people like to imagine that they will not need to make a claim and therefore they favour the cost-savings of a more basic policy. But, to buy car insurance or any product with your focus being away from what you are actually getting is a faulty and self-defeating way to proceed. Yes, the cost matters, but the associated cover is equally, or arguably, more important.

If it is accepted that you need to know what you are getting - that it's essential to look through the policy features - it has to be said that car insurance comparison systems, by, at best, providing only summarised policy data, fall short of giving you enough information for a properly informed choice. As a result, it pays to look through policy information by consulting each insurer's website directly.

If we imagine that you have first gone to a price comparison site and that it has generated a list of potential car insurance policies for you to select from, arranged in ascending price, then you would need to click back and forward between several insurers' websites and the results page, to compare prices and policies effectively.

In practical terms, if you're looking for a car insurance policy that will actually serve you well in an accident, it could be well down this list. This does beg the question whether using a price comparison system as your starting point is ultimately in your best interests.

Let us imagine that instead of using a price comparison system, you decide to select from a list of market-leading car insurance providers. You'll find several of the UK's market-leading providers via. for example, this popular UK site for . By definition, any market-leader commands a healthy share of the market, and the only way to achieve this is in a competitive market place (such as car insurance) is to be highly competitive for like policies.

This market effect whereby car insurance providers watch their competitors' pricing closely and aim to match or beat them ensures that the consumer gets a good deal even if no check of numerous quotes is made.

Reassured that you will not be paying too much if you go direct in this way, the key reason to do so relates to quality control rather than specific price comsiderations. Big car insurance companies compete on quality of cover as well as price. In short, if you go direct, even if you're not too conscientious about cheking over the cover, you can expect to get a better level of cover that may well, for example, include courtesy car arrangements and a more suitable excess.

Few would go into an electronic goods warehouse to buy the cheapest TV without considering quality issues yet numerous people are happy to buy the cheapest car insurance in this way. It shouldn't need to take a claim to change this faulty buying bahaviour.

If, in most cases, going direct results in a better buy at a competitive price, when might use of a car insurance comparison site be justified? We would suggest that they are best reserved for where economy needs to come to the fore to avoid otherwise excessive cost. In other words, where you are expecting costly car insurance, it makes sense to be pragmatice about what you must have in your policy. Groups in this cateogry would include the young driver, the new driver, the driver with previous convictions for driving offences, and drivers of high insurance group cars that are looking for more economic insurance.

For everyone else, for the reasons outlined above, they should really be held in reserve - as back up - for if you are struggling to get car insurance cover at an affordable price.

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