Beware cashback

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Reaper
Reaper Posts: 7,283 Forumite
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in Insurance & life assurance
I did a MoneySupermarket house buildings & contents insurance quote.

PolicyExpert came out cheapest at £134. However I noticed TopCashBack were offering £70 cashback so I went to the site via them instead.

I gave the same answers to the questions and this time it was £232!

So I returned to MoneySupermarket, linked through to them from there and bought the policy from the same company at the cheaper price.

So beware - cashback isn't always the bargain it looks.

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  • keith1950
    keith1950 Posts: 2,597 Forumite
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    That's why you judge it on the overall net price and not the size of cashback.
    I find that one time moneysupermarket will be cheapest, another time it'll be confused or comparethemarket.
    I usually find the cheapest quote using these sites and then go to the insurance site via the cashback site.
    I have heard that the questions asked by these sites don't always align with the questions on the actual insurers site.( One may ask something happening in the last 3 years whereas the other asks for the last five years ) so that although you are giving the same answers they are being interpreted differently.
    This is why you should always thoroughly check your policy documents when you receive them to ensure there's no 'cross-site' variations.
  • hubb
    hubb Posts: 2,482 Forumite
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    edited 9 July 2018 at 2:26PM
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    keith1950 wrote: »
    That's why you judge it on the overall net price and not the size of cashback.
    I find that one time moneysupermarket will be cheapest, another time it'll be confused or comparethemarket.
    I usually find the cheapest quote using these sites and then go to the insurance site via the cashback site.
    I have heard that the questions asked by these sites don't always align with the questions on the actual insurers site.( One may ask something happening in the last 3 years whereas the other asks for the last five years ) so that although you are giving the same answers they are being interpreted differently.
    This is why you should always thoroughly check your policy documents when you receive them to ensure there's no 'cross-site' variations.

    The same thing happened to me. I went via Confused.com and Saga came up with the cheapest car insurance at £133. Top Cashback offer £30 for Saga so I went via them. Gave the same answers and annoyingly got a "we couldn't complete insurance at this time, please rings us" So I phoned and because I put in "musician" as occupation (compose from home to sell online) it was a problem. I ended up phoning and changing to "composer" which gave a quote of £143. I asked why it had gone up £10 from the Confused.com quote and they said because their questions are more refined. I asked to change to "publisher" (as I sell photos and music online) and it bought it down to £139.

    The question is shall I go with the Confused price or risk going via Top Cashback again and it not tracking because I have already been and got a quote from Saga ? To make matters more complex Top Cashback offer £30 to go via Confused.com.
  • keith1950
    keith1950 Posts: 2,597 Forumite
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    It's ok to get as many quotes on the cashback site as you want and you are recommended to get a new quote each time to ensure cashback however each quote may be different.
    Just go with the best overall price as long as it's a new quote.
    I have now had well over £5000 by using Quidco and Topcashback and my declined transactions amount to less than £40 and even those were where I was actually an existing customer so wasn't theoretically entitled to cashback.
  • hubb
    hubb Posts: 2,482 Forumite
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    So as Top Cashback also offer £30 for Confused.com wouldn't it be better to buy my lower quote though them rather than going straight to Saga for the same cashback ?
  • keith1950
    keith1950 Posts: 2,597 Forumite
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    As long as there's no cross - site variations in the policy .
    Read all the policy documents to confirm everything is correct before buying.
  • trumpeter_2
    trumpeter_2 Posts: 46 Forumite
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    A Quidco home insurance quote with Saga came out net better than the same company through MoneySavingExpert (yes, I realise you shouldn't bank on cashback in any case).

    But the T&Cs on the Quidco offer specified that the cashback isn't payable if you've checked with a comparison site first!
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