Am I doing something wrong re Car Insurance cashback?

artha

Having done quite a bit of legwork I'm now getting a bit concerned that Quidco is not as good as people seem to think. I've been trying to get the best quote for my daughters car insurance renewal and been alarmed by the difference in quotes when going via confused.com or via Quidco. The quidco quote is always higher than that available through confused and usually wipes out most of the cashback. Two examples:

Hastings Direct:
Confused - £306.52
Quidco - £389.28 less £55 cashback = £334.28

More Than
Confused- £336.53
Quidco - £408.88 less£75 cashback = £333.88

I believe that insurance companies may be clawing back caskback through higher premiums on sites like Quidco. I don't think its a cookie thing as I always clear between every quote and I can go back to the insurance company using the confused link and always get the same price right up to the point of purchase.

Anyone else had similar experiences?

Quentin

Check you are comparing like for like - eg. confused often asumes a high voluntary excess, whereas when you do a quote direct with an insurer you decide yourself on whether to have any excess or how much you want to pay.

But if the quotes are truly like for like, then that must mean quidco prices get adjusted to pay the cashback.

(As far as hastings direct goes, you do get an extra £30 fuel voucher via quidco on top of the cashback which would make it slightly cheaper than the confused price you got)

artha

Quentin wrote: »

Check you are comparing like for like - eg. confused often asumes a high voluntary excess, whereas when you do a quote direct with an insurer you decide yourself on whether to have any excess or how much you want to pay.

But if the quotes are truly like for like, then that must mean quidco prices get adjusted to pay the cashback.

(As far as hastings direct goes, you do get an extra £30 fuel voucher via quidco on top of the cashback which would make it slightly cheaper than the confused price you got)

Ive made sure that the qoutes are like for like re excess etc to ensure a fair comparison.
As far as the petrol voucher goes that would make it two pounds cheaper assuming the cashback tracks OK and the fuel voucher turns up.

If the fuel voucher is avaialble through quidco then Im assuming it is also available through confused which wipes out that advantage and Quidco would be more expensive after cashback etc than via confused.

This is not the first time I have experienced this as when I went throgh the same process for my and OH recently I came across the same issue and had to spend a whole day getting and comparing quotes before I found the cheapest deal (Swinton). Of course it's only the cheapest if the cashback tracks and the Swinton Vouchers come through.

I think it flags up a warning to others that offers of cashback are not necessarily all they seem. I am now convinced that in some/many cases the cashback is added to the premium quote. I should flag this up on Quidco but not sure how to do that

serbask

Have you tried going to the insurers site directly and getting a quote just for comparison i.e. not through quidco or confused. It would be interesting to see whether confused gets a consession or whether quidco gets excess premium

artha

serbask wrote: »

Have you tried going to the insurers site directly and getting a quote just for comparison i.e. not through quidco or confused. It would be interesting to see whether confused gets a consession or whether quidco gets excess premium

I was thinking about doing that and may well try it but with so many things to do I'm beginning to wonder whether the time spent to save a few quid (am I really saying this?) is actually worth it?

Quentin

artha wrote: »

If the fuel voucher is avaialble through quidco then Im assuming it is also available through confused which wipes out that advantage and Quidco would be more expensive after cashback etc than via confused.

Your assumption is incorrect. (Which proves the point about assuming the quotes you get from different sources are like for like).

You don't get the £30 fuel voucher if you go via confused.

(You do get a half price MOT offer from confused, though this is also given as well if you go via the cashback sites, and looks to be a marketing offer from the testing station giving the offer).

lisyloo

You need to make absolutely certain quotes are like for like.
It's not jsut the excess level.
It many things - like protected NCD option, mileage stated, cover e.g. commuting, business class 1 etc, presence of other cars in household, claims, convictions etc.
There are about 30 bits of information that need to be identical not just the excess.
It's easy to make a slight difference especially as comparison sites sometimes make assumptions e.g. they assume other "vehicles" in household are other cars.

If everything is correct then I'm sure the claim would be that you are getting a discount via the comparison site, not that you are being loaded via quidco.

However I suspect there might be some minor difference somewhere due to an assumption made by confused.com e.g. they leave OFF proteccted NCD to get the price down as low as poss (there are many other similar examples).

artha

lisyloo wrote: »

You need to make absolutely certain quotes are like for like.
It's not jsut the excess level.
It many things - like protected NCD option, mileage stated, cover e.g. commuting, business class 1 etc, presence of other cars in household, claims, convictions etc.
There are about 30 bits of information that need to be identical not just the excess.
It's easy to make a slight difference especially as comparison sites sometimes make assumptions e.g. they assume other "vehicles" in household are other cars.

If everything is correct then I'm sure the claim would be that you are getting a discount via the comparison site, not that you are being loaded via quidco.

However I suspect there might be some minor difference somewhere due to an assumption made by confused.com e.g. they leave OFF protected NCD to get the price down as low as poss (there are many other similar examples).

I've been through the qoutes in detail and can assure that they are identical. As I said in my earlier post I don't believe this is an isolated anomaly and is based on my my recent experience of obtaining two other insurance renewals where at least the first half dozen best buys in the confused.com list turned out to be more expensive when going through quidco after cashback. It can't just be happening to me so would advise people to make sure that they are actually getting a good deal.

lisyloo

It hasn't happened to me, but perhaps the comparison sites have now become large enough to command bigger discounts.

You are absolutely right and it applies elsewhere too.
People should not be deceived by "£X off" or "X% off" if the product can be bought cheaper elsewhere.

I discovered this a long time ago with arimiles. For example "free" airmiles flights were more expensive than normal "no frills" ones after you paid the tax and charges.

I have found comaprison sites to make assumption though e.g. when we answered "yes" to having access to other vehicles, this was entered into some quotes as "access to other cars" which meant the quotes were wrong.
So it's very important also for people to check quotes from comparison sites, as they can sometimes distort your answers.

Quentin

artha wrote: »

I've been through the qoutes in detail and can assure that they are identical.

I have shown you your quotes from confused and quidco aren't identical for hastings - why are you so sure the others are identical? You need the insurers website confirmation of the details, (which you always get when going via cashback sites).

artha

Quentin wrote: »

I have shown you your quotes from confused and quidco aren't identical for hastings - why are you so sure the others are identical? You need the insurers website confirmation of the details, (which you always get when going via cashback sites).

To make comparisons I used the link from confused.com to go to the insurers website and took the process up to the point of purchase so I could check all of the fine detail.
As I'm having to spend so much time doing these comparisons to get the best price compared to previous years I eventually decided to go with Hastings direct without cashback at £327 to include legal cover which is still better than my daughters AA best renewal quote of £414 with a higher excess. Interestingly both the Hastings quote and the best AA renewal quote were for the same company: Advantage Insurance.

Please don't get me wrong about Quidco. I'm not knocking it and have used it frequently over the last couple of years achieving ca £1500 in cashback. To reiterate one of my original messages, don't always assume you'll get the best deal from going through a cashback site. I now have to go searching for my buildings insurance which is due at the end of the month and I'll be following the same procedure as for Car Insurance. I'll report back if I find the same anomaly