Aggregators - Be Careful With Click Through

bealine99

I have filed a complaint today with Compare The Market and Confused regarding policies sold by Markerstudy Group (Trading as "Geoffrey Insurance")

Both the Quoted Premium and the Services Offered as part of the deal were different on the Insurer's Quote than what was offered on Compare The Market and Confused once I followed the Click Through link from the aggregator to the insurer. This is contrary both to the Distance Selling Regulations and the FCA's own Code of Practice.

Both aggregators have confirmed that this happened and are looking into the reason why but, in the meantime, please look at the insurance product being offered and the price you are paying very closely before committing to buy.

It is normal that the insurer may increase the premium if you leave the quote and return a day or two later, but if you click through at the time the quote is generated, there should be no variance.

alfie1950

I haven't found any price difference when passed through to the insurer but have regularly found minor differences in the cover given , which when corrected has changed the price.
On their own website insurers have their own list of questions however because they are covering a vast range of insurers , the questions asked on the comparison site are sometimes slightly different.
It may only be something like how many claim free years do you have, the insurer may state 'in the last 3 years , the comparison site may state 'in the last five years' .It could be the number of years you've been driving or your level of NCB.
These slight differences between the asked questions can cause errors when linking through to the insurer so you should always double check every detail.
I do use comparison sites to find out who is generally going to be the cheapest insurer at the time but then always go direct to the insurer to buy the insurance , I never buy through the comparison link.
This is nothing new and I first noticed it when comparison sites first appeared many years ago. Anyone who doesn't recheck the details after linking through shouldn't be allowed out alone.

eddddy

alfie1950 wrote: »

On their own website insurers have their own list of questions however because they are covering a vast range of insurers , the questions asked on the comparison site are sometimes slightly different.

That is a problem for the insurer (and/or comparison site) to solve.

If an insurer wants to be included on a comparison site, the insurer must make their questions compatible with the comparison site.

And in general, they do make their questions compatible - it sounds like the company the OP mentions has made a bad mistake.

alfie1950 wrote: »

It may only be something like how many claim free years do you have, the insurer may state 'in the last 3 years , the comparison site may state 'in the last five years' .It could be the number of years you've been driving or your level of NCB.

If you say a comparison site that you have had "no claims in the last 5 years" - it's safe for the insurer to translate that into "no claims in the last 3 years" for the purposes of generating a quote.

Obviously, it's not safe for the insurer to translate it the other way round.


The comparison site simply sends all the answers to their questions to the insurers. It will be the insurers that translates any answers - for example, one insurer might translate "12 years NCB" to "9+ years NCB". Another insurer might translate it to "5+ years NCB"

But as you say, mistakes happen. So it's best to double check that an insurer has translated all the info correctly.

alfie1950

I only replied to the original post because the OP seemed to give the impression that this is something new but it has happened with various interpretions of the questions asked since these sites began.
Sometimes all data is transferred over and interpreted correctly and sometimes there are errors, it a case of buyer beware and double check all information.
Nothing new , nothing to get excited about.

bealine99

Nothing new , nothing to get excited about.

I have used confused.com since their on-line comparison site was first launched and have never experienced this before from any of the click-throughs to the insurer. I have never experienced any discrepancies with the cover provided, the excess amounts or the premiums before.

I always look at confused.com, compare the market and go compare. Occasionally, I look at Money Supermarket but, to be brutally honest, I have never found them competitive.

Geoffrey Insurance (part of Markerstudy) is the first one I have experienced a problem with and I also found a similar discrepancy with M&S Bank.

It IS something to get excited about as this is mis-selling. It is NOT a question of "let the buyer beware" - both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Distance Selling regulations cover this very point! The quote must be valid at the time of sale - if you disappear for an hour and return, the premium may have increased, but not if you click through immediately.

Both Compare the Market and Confused.com have treated this matter very seriously and are taking it up with the insurers. I have used confused.com to purchase a costlier policy through Admiral as that was the only insurer which honoured both the quote and the cover provision.

alfie1950

I have had this happen with all comparison sites possibly because I have done so many searches for myself , my friends and family .
As I said I have never had the price vary by itself but have had numerous discrepancies as the details are transferred across.
Surely your intelligent enough to understand how this can occur due to the variations in the question criteria.
You appear to be making a big thing about this as if it is something new.
I suspect that Compare the Market and Confused are actually stringing you along with their 'concern' because this is a well know issue that has occurred since their inception.

Takmon

bealine99 wrote: »

I have used confused.com since their on-line comparison site was first launched and have never experienced this before from any of the click-throughs to the insurer. I have never experienced any discrepancies with the cover provided, the excess amounts or the premiums before.

I always look at confused.com, compare the market and go compare. Occasionally, I look at Money Supermarket but, to be brutally honest, I have never found them competitive.

Geoffrey Insurance (part of Markerstudy) is the first one I have experienced a problem with and I also found a similar discrepancy with M&S Bank.

It IS something to get excited about as this is mis-selling. It is NOT a question of "let the buyer beware" - both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Distance Selling regulations cover this very point! The quote must be valid at the time of sale - if you disappear for an hour and return, the premium may have increased, but not if you click through immediately.

Both Compare the Market and Confused.com have treated this matter very seriously and are taking it up with the insurers. I have used confused.com to purchase a costlier policy through Admiral as that was the only insurer which honoured both the quote and the cover provision.

The reason they are taking this seriously is not because its miss selling. Its because if the insurer reports a lower price to be higher up in the comparison site they are cheating their systems and also making the comparison sites look unreliable. So this is something they will want to look into from a business perspective and not a legal perspective.