Have you spotted incorrect info on comparison sites?

Some insurers like Aviva and Direct Line will not appear on comparison sites so it’s worth checking the results from a comparison website search with one of those.

I get the impression that comparison websites spend more money on marketing themselves than the insurance companies do.

Policy-holders pay for the commission that the websites earn. I am not convinced that comparison websites have brought down the overall cost of insurance; in reducing headline premiums they have opened the door to the government imposing a tax on them and raising the percentage from time to time. It started at 5%, was raised to 8% and is now 10% [and 20% for travel insurance]. Moreover, in competing to offer the cheapest terms for basic policies as driven by the comparison websites insurance companies have had to raise the premiums, or reduce the cover, or both, on additional risks and specialist cover.

I had forgotten that Direct Line et al. don’t feature in these sites but that is what encouraged me to give them a go. I did not know about the taxation.

The reason I leave insurance companies is generally price hikes.

Thanks very much Dean – and George. It will be interesting to know if either organisation provides a useful response.

One of my cars is insured through a broker. Each year they review available insurers and recommend that, or those, that best suit my needs. They have recommended two or three changes over the years and this year virtually halved my premium.

One son also uses a broker and they have been especially useful in ensuring that any car modifications were included. They were also very competitive (A Plan). When someone ran into the back of his car, causing a little damage but not disastrous, they ensured his car went to a specialist for the model and had it collected and delivered by truck even though it was driveable.

I would not insure with Arriva’ Patrick. If you had an accident you might get a bus ticket rather than a courtesy car. 🙂

I’m quite happy with NFU for car and breakdown insurance. They don’t seem to reward loyalty with a price hike, as some of the others do.

Loyalty is a myth in most cases. We know that. Be prepared to negotiate new terms or change each year.

I gave up doing that years ago. I just shop around and then phone the old company to say that I have arranged cover elsewhere. They generally say that I should have contacted them to discuss prices and I say, politely, that I’m not keen on companies that hike prices for loyal customers who have not made a claim.

You should see standing charges separately from unit charges. If you use Which?Switch to list the total costs of all suppliers for your energy usage and click on “more info” for any supplier, this will show them

In my experience quotes give this information.

But I’ve not found any general rules about whether or not I need to go for high or low standing charges – it just depends on what each supplier is offering for me.

What matters is the total (estimated) quote for your annual usage. Whether that has high unit charges and low or nil standing charge, or low unit charges and high standing charges really seems immaterial.

However, if your annual estimate is iffy, and could vary substantially from what you think, put in the extreme ranges of your estimated usage to see what effect it has.