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[MSE Lawrence]

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's 'Car Insurance: Comparing the Comparisons…' Blog.

Click reply to discuss below.

[lexa34]

Trying to compare the comparison sites? Don't envy you... it isn't working for me. when I try and go to the insurance company direct to get cashback the quote comes out different and I am going around in circles...you could saying driving me around the bend!

[chartreuse]

Well said on the phone call issue. I resent being plagued with phone calls whenever I do a comparison and always opt out. But that doesn't necessarily stop the calls. In the past I've told them that I opted out only to have them argue with me saying "No, you didn't, you opted in."

Great sales technique! You've just called me a liar and now you expect me to buy insurance from you?

[Luvmyfreebies]

And of course the BIG caveat when using insurance (or any other) comparison websites is that the results are paid for by the providers themselves. E.g. the one that appears at the top of your results list is the one who has paid the most in advertising fees to the site that month/week/day/hour (How else do you think these sites make their money).

Therefore, never ever rely on one source of information.

[volume69]

Originally Posted by Luvmyfreebies

And of course the BIG caveat when using insurance (or any other) comparison websites is that the results are paid for by the providers themselves. E.g. the one that appears at the top of your results list is the one who has paid the most in advertising fees to the site that month/week/day/hour (How else do you think these sites make their money).

Therefore, never ever rely on one source of information.

This is not true for all sites:
moneysupermarket clearly display sponsored links, the results aside form these sponsored links are sorted on price - lowest to highest.

[MSE Martin]

Originally Posted by Luvmyfreebies

And of course the BIG caveat when using insurance (or any other) comparison websites is that the results are paid for by the providers themselves. E.g. the one that appears at the top of your results list is the one who has paid the most in advertising fees to the site that month/week/day/hour (How else do you think these sites make their money).

Therefore, never ever rely on one source of information.

Actually that's unfair to the sites. The commercial deals tend to be about inclusion in the list not ranking.

[tiptoe_mouse]

Another top tip is to check that the quotes actually cover what you filled in earlier.

For example, when I was looking for car insurance a few months ago, I used the Tesco comparison site. I clicked through on the top quote to apply, and a lot of the details were pre-filled, as I expected. Except that they showed my car with an alarm, when I'd ticked "no alarm". When I corrected this, the price was hiked well above other quotes. Even worse, the second provider on the comparison site list also had the same problem (it appeared to be the same company under different branding, judging by the similarities in their websites).

By this time I assumed I'd made a mistake, but then the quote from the third insurer on the list was correct. This was ... Tesco insurance! I did go back and recheck my details on the comparsion site and run the check again, and got the same incorrect quotes.

Has anyone else had similar problems? I didn't know whether it was the comparison site's fault or the insurers'.

I'm ashamed to say I ended up going with Tesco without during more investigation - I hadn't come across the MSE article back then, and assumed all comparison sites were the same. I was also in a hurry to get my new-to-me car insured and taxed. I knew that even third party insurance would be expensive as I'd only passed my test a month previously, and had got a quote from a traditional broker which was higher than Tesco's.

Unfortunately I've had two accidents since - both minor scrapes to the other cars involved (one was in the car park at work) with my car needing a gaffa-tape solution. I hate to think what the insurance will be next year - I will be doing the most extensive search possible, well in advance.

tiptoe

[Edinburghlass]

I was in my local Tesco yesterday checking out their laptops for Pink and got chatting to a gentleman who was looking at the same laptops. I mentioned, as you do (much to teen's embarrassment) that he should look at Moneysavingexpert forums, not just for the bargains but for other users experiences with laptops.

He told me he gets Martin's email, likes to read it and uses the insurance comparison websites but his question to Martin is how come when he inputs the the same information on different comparison websites that they come up with different companies when he feels they should all come up with the same answers.

So, gentleman in Tesco today looking at the Acer laptop, have a read of Martin's blog