Home Insurance - The Problem With Price Comparison Sites

We are all familiar with the TV adverts featuring cute furry animals, dancers, celebrities, singers and people who appear to have a bundle of energy and enthusiasm for what they are selling. And for many, buying your insurance through these price comparison websites has become the norm.

First set up around 15 years ago, these sites aimed to help us, the consumer, find the best policy for our needs at the best price. It increased competition among the insurance providers and drove down the premiums for many consumers.

Overall, the experience was pretty straightforward, and quotes could be obtained from several providers in a matter of minutes. Talk about a win-win for the consumer - suitable policies and lower prices. However, a market report conducted by the Financial Conduct Authority in September 2020 has highlighted some problems with buying home insurance through price comparison sites.

Firstly, a well-known comparison site was found to be keeping home insurance costs artificially high on their site and, as a consequence, received a £17.9m fine from the Competition and Markets Authority.

Secondly, the market report found very little governance on sites' requirements to check that the policies bought matched customers exact needs and demands.

So not quite as much of a win-win for suitable policies and lower prices for customers. In effect, the market report feedback that these sites were not delivering for customers and so much so, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written to the CEOs of the UK's insurance companies warning them that there are critical risks to consumers through the policies that are put up for sale on price comparison sites.

Added to policy wording complexities, multiple and complicated to understand policy excesses and underlying system assumptions that could affect a claim's success, comparison sites can be risky for customers.

Over the past year, we are proud to say we have seen a significant increase in our direct customer insurance business, growing both organically and via current customers looking to us to provide detailed and trusted advice. We can take care of home insurance as part of the mortgage advice process; however, we also access the entire market for detailed health, critical illness, life, income protection, business and key-person, and other insurance needs.

We aim to find the right policy for your needs at the most competitive price, thus creating that win-win for you. We will take the time to understand what's important to you before researching the market and because we do all the research for you, the process of finding the best policy for your needs can take less time than it would you visiting a price comparison site.

If you wish to book a no-obligation insurance review, click here to get in touch .