MSE Poll: How much is your time worth when buying insurance?

Former_MSE_Emily_W

Poll started 25 April 2023

With car and home insurance policy costs predicted to rise by up to 30% this year, it's more important than ever to use our Cheap home insurance and Cheap car insurance cost-cutting systems to find the cheapest quote you can.

 One of our recommendations is to use more than one comparison site, as they can cover different insurers, and often have different prices for the same insurer. Yet we know entering the same details on different comparison sites can be a chore. This week, we want to know how much of a saving you'd want to find to make going to another comparison site worth the time – so please imagine yourself in these two scenarios...

Click here to vote in the poll.

Did you vote? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below.
If you haven't already, join the forum to reply.

Thanks!

DullGreyGuy

MSE_Emily_W said:

With car and home insurance policy costs predicted to rise by up to 30% this year, it's more important than ever to use our Cheap home insurance and Cheap car insurance cost-cutting systems to find the cheapest quote you can.

Really bad advise as usual... cheapest insurance you can get, without any qualification, values price above coverage where clearly saving £5, £25 or even £200 is a really bad idea if it means you wont be covered for a claim because you've bought some cut down 1 star rated product rather than one that actually meets you needs

tain

There is a slight nuance to this that the poll misses.

If the comparison site is offering me a cheaper/equal value quote from a different supplier, then I wouldn't need to see any saving as the choice alone would make the additional time worthwhile.

However, if it's cheaper but for the same supplier for the same insurance product, then I can directly quantify that as a calculation of my time and effort against the saving.

tain

DullGreyGuy said:

MSE_Emily_W said:

With car and home insurance policy costs predicted to rise by up to 30% this year, it's more important than ever to use our Cheap home insurance and Cheap car insurance cost-cutting systems to find the cheapest quote you can.

Really bad advise as usual... cheapest insurance you can get, without any qualification, values price above coverage where clearly saving £5, £25 or even £200 is a really bad idea if it means you wont be covered for a claim because you've bought some cut down 1 star rated product rather than one that actually meets you needs

I don't remember ever seeing any MSE advice that tells you to buy the cheapest possible insurance irrespective of coverage or supplier reputation. 

tastyfish

DullGreyGuy said:

MSE_Emily_W said:

With car and home insurance policy costs predicted to rise by up to 30% this year, it's more important than ever to use our Cheap home insurance and Cheap car insurance cost-cutting systems to find the cheapest quote you can.

Really bad advise as usual... cheapest insurance you can get, without any qualification, values price above coverage where clearly saving £5, £25 or even £200 is a really bad idea if it means you wont be covered for a claim because you've bought some cut down 1 star rated product rather than one that actually meets you needs

The poll didn’t suggest buying the cheapest. It just said “get a quote for £x00”. I took this to assume that on the second comparison site I’d be comparing a like-for-like quote for whatever suited my priorities and needs. Perhaps this could’ve been made clearer.

I was quite surprised by the number who selected anything over the smallest range for it to be worthwhile using the second comparison site. If they are like for like (eg same cover, excess, defaqto rating, extras, etc) why would anyone pay any more? All you then need to do on the second site is click a button to purchase, even if it was 1p cheaper.

tain

tastyfish said:

DullGreyGuy said:

MSE_Emily_W said:

With car and home insurance policy costs predicted to rise by up to 30% this year, it's more important than ever to use our Cheap home insurance and Cheap car insurance cost-cutting systems to find the cheapest quote you can.

Really bad advise as usual... cheapest insurance you can get, without any qualification, values price above coverage where clearly saving £5, £25 or even £200 is a really bad idea if it means you wont be covered for a claim because you've bought some cut down 1 star rated product rather than one that actually meets you needs

The poll didn’t suggest buying the cheapest. It just said “get a quote for £x00”. I took this to assume that on the second comparison site I’d be comparing a like-for-like quote for whatever suited my priorities and needs. Perhaps this could’ve been made clearer.

I was quite surprised by the number who selected anything over the smallest range for it to be worthwhile using the second comparison site. If they are like for like (eg same cover, excess, defaqto rating, extras, etc) why would anyone pay any more? All you then need to do on the second site is click a button to purchase, even if it was 1p cheaper.

Because it quite often takes 5-10 minutes to set up an account, update all your details, check, then get a quote. Tons more than that if you have any claims to add in.

10 minutes effort for a 50p saving isn't worth my time and effort. 

Unfriended

I thought that part of the point of the poll was to show that quirk of human nature that says a saving of x is worthwhile to me, unless I'm spending twice as much in which case its no longer worth my time.

ie If £20 for 10 mins extra work is worthwhile for the home insurance then why isn't it worthwhile for the car?
Especially as car insurance is in my experience a lot easier to set up and evaluate quotes for than home insurance, which has far more variables and options.