Car
insurance in the UK - Compare or not?
The UK likes to use car insurance
comparison services. The appeal of filling in just one form to then
potentially save tens of, even over a hundred, pounds, is irresistable
to many. It's quick, easy and convenient and could save you a heep of
money in the process. What's not to like about choosing to compare car
insurance in this way?
Well, in fact, quite a lot, when you look at the process more closely.
In commerce, and that includes financial services, low cost tends to be
associated with low quality. You pay for what you get. Price comparison
sites pride themselves on their power: 'Use us because we check more
car insurance quotes than anyone else'.
Nowadays, often 1000s of car insurance policy prices are checked via
one form by these services. There's no doubt that this is impressive -
much more powerful than the brokers of old that perhaps had no more
than 30 car insurance companies on their panels. But with this power
comes the somewhat obvious question: Do you really want a policy that's
cheaper than thousands of its rivals?
In all probability, much can be said about what's wrong with such a
policy and much less about what's right about it, other than its price.
It's likely to have a very high excess and exclude much of what most
would wish for as standard. You certainly wouldn't get any courtesy car
arrangements, for instance, if your car was off the road.
There are those that are unphased by such no frills policies, their
focus being entirely on price. Presumably such people will only begin
to question their decision to ignore the associated (limited) cover
when they need to make a claim and they discover how much they will
then have to pay for themselves.
For the rest of us, common sense dictates that we pay attention to what
we are getting. Yet to what degree does this tenet impact upon our car
insurance buying behaviour in practice?
No-one would rush into an electrical warehouse, demand the cheapest TV
set, buy it and rush out, telling the sales staff that its features are
immaterial. Yet this is the model that many adopt when they compare car
insurance online. It would appear that they are willing to gamble on
not needing to claim in order to save money. This is high risk and
flies in the face of the rationale behind buying car insurance which is
to secure cover that will serve you well in an accident.
In practical terms, this means that a careful assessment of the car
insurance policy should never be omitted, while, especially if you're
looking through the more budget quotes, you may find that a look at the
insurer's own website is needed for full policy information.
Actually, the premise on which price comparison sites are based - that
price is the primary basis on which a policy selection is made - needs
to be questioned. In fact, it's an over-simplification. The basis on
which people can most effectively choose their car insurance - and it's
an elusive one - is that optimal compromise between cost and cover. It
starts with a sense of what you must have then looking for the best
value policy that provides this.
Although many would not like the idea of not being able to compare car
insurance from numerous providers, built-in quality control is easily
available if you select direct from a market-leading car insurance
provider such as the car
insurance
companies listed here. Everyday market forces look after prices to
maintain competitive pricing; so you don't really need to check the
price of numeorus comparable policies if you find what you're looking
for.
Simple and effective, we would suggest that going direct is the best
approach, albeit not the nation's favourite way to find car insurance. More..
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