UK Insurance Price Comparison – Not Quite What it Says on the Tin?!
As a consumer, when you visit a car insurance price comparison website in the UK, you might imagine you are equally comparing, all of the insurers on the panel delivered by the comparison website. Right? Well, maybe not!
We take a look at the latest news stories about just how independent and altruistic your comparison partner might be?
HomeApproved investigates.
It’s that time of the year again where we try and point you in the direction of what’s happening in the motor insurance sector?
Click through and see what we think will be the key talking points in 2013 UK car insurance:
Black Box Insurance
We predict a big year in the UK for vehicle smartbox technology!
EU Gender Directive
This is not a prediction! It’s already here – thanks to the EU!
Not More Comparison Websites?!
One has to wonder what these new players can really offer/deliver over and above the established players such as MoneySupermarket, GoCompare et al.
Investigation into the UK Car Insurance Market
During September 2012 the Office of Fair Trading announced that it had referred the UK’s private car insurance market to the Competition Commission for further investigation.
Tougher Laws on Drink Driving
Government proposals are paving the way to ensure individuals who drink and drive are hit harder then ever in 2013.
Google car insurance comparison is a service recently launched by the company to deliver a different approach to providing great value motor quotes. Users of Google in the UK will notice a sponsored listing near the top of the page when they type in the search ‘car insurance’.
Comparing approximately 120 car insurers, Google provides a comparable service similar to others such as GoCompare, MoneySupermarket.com and Confused.com. There are important differences claimed by Google though, such as a promise that neither it nor its insurers will sell any personal details to third parties.
It has been a source of contention in the past that some price comparison websites make assumptions about individuals during the quote-generating process. Google’s car insurance compare service requires the customer to actively select options relating to their vehicle, personal profile and policy requirements.
It will also be interesting to see how the landscape plays out in the UK between Google’s new offering and other well know motor insurance comparison websites?!
Tommy from HomeApproved tells us how to get cheap car insurance quotes. Whether its your first motor policy or you are looking for a great deal on your renewal – it’s all here courtesy of Tommy! http://ow.ly/bAqFt
HomeApproved is tonight launching the very first of our NEW, 30 day, Facebook Friends Competitions*!
Our very first competition is to win a brand new Apple iPod nano 16GB – 6th Generation – in a colour of the winners choosing**.
The competition is open to all (current) existing, and new HomeApproved Facebook friends who like our FB page between midnight Friday 11th May, 2012 and ending at Midnight on Sunday 10th June, 2012 (30 days).
The winner will be drawn on the evening of Monday 11th June, 2012. Notification of the name of the winner will be across all HomeApproved platforms on the evening of Monday 12th June, 2012.
The winner will be invited to e-mail us info@homeapproved.co.uk to provide contact and delivery details for their prize.
The competition is open to all individuals, regardless of where they reside.
Tell your Facebook friends if you wish, and we hope one day that you will come and try HomeApproved for your new UK car insurance quote!!
Good Luck.
*Their is no cash alternative.
**Prize will be ordered by us and delivered to the lucky winner direct from Amazon UK.
Apple iPod nano 16GB – 6th Generation
Looking for great rates for provisional licence insurance?
We all know the soaring rates for car insurance in the UK! Thankfully you’ve found an excellent place to make sure you get the lowest UK motor premiums combined with the right cover levels for provisional licence holders.
Proud to be the holder of a new driving licence? Well it comes with certain responsibilities! Driving on the roads is a serious business, and particularly as a learner driver you need to make sure you have adequate car insurance cover in place before you get behind the steering wheel.
At HomeApproved we are proud to partner Provisional Marmalade. Their learner driver car insurance is specifically designed for learners of all ages and aims to provide them with the security needed to get the practice that is vital to become a licensed driver.
If you haven’t applied for your new provisional driving licence yet, plese head on over to the Directgov website and read all about the process of applying.
SAFE DRIVING – AND GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR DRIVING TEST!!!
Cheapest Car Insurance Northern Ireland
As promised we are providing a concise review of the car insurance market in Northern Ireland.
We want to find out who are the main players in this sector, are their any smaller niche players who excel in winning profitable business, how do motor premiums stack up against the rest of UK, and are the big insurance comparison websites hoovering up a lot of business?
Well, a quick search in Google for ‘Northern Ireland Car Insurance’ shows AXA Direct dominating Google Places results! In fact all three listings are for this company and their respective offices in Belfast, Londonderry and Ballymena.
Another really strong clue to see which companies are chasing market share in this market is to look at the sponsored links at the top and right of the 1st Google result page. Who is paying top dollar for page 1 visibility? Let’s have a look:
Three big boys taking the top three spots for sponsored lisitngs when we looked! Take a further look however and we can see a couple of distinctive NI car insurers.
Hughes Insurance
‘FBI’ (Finding Better Insurance), ok slightly naff but communicating the right message of not just cheap, cheap quotes but motor policies with great levels of cover aswell. Features of note:
CIP Insurance Brokers
With offices in Crumlin, Belfast and Ballyclare CIP are in pole position to deliver competitive rates arranged with insurance underwriters. Policy features of note:
CompareNI
Good visibility for CompareNI. A terrific place to obtain a car insurance comparison quote for your next Northern Ireland motor policy. If you are fed up with quotes delivering insurers from the mainland then this company could be a good bet. They know how frustrating that can be, so CompareNI.com lets you compare deals that apply to NI residents.
Allianz Northern Ireland
Well, this month (May, 2012) you could win an iPod! not our idea of a particularly compelling offer but nonetheless their will be some tempted to input some information and see if it’s their lucky day! A poor website, where the only incentive for submitting a quote request is the £35 online discount. Not great in our opinion.
In summary the market seems to be fairly well balanced between big brand names like Sainsburys and The Co-operative; Comparison websites such as CompareTheMarket and CompareNI, and smaller players such as Hughes and CIP.
It is nearly always good practice to shop around to obtain the best value for money quote. Don’t always look for the cheapest policy. Try and match your level of cover needs, policy features and benefits with a great deal.
Happy hunting!
To all HomeApproved blog followers:
You can now connect with us on LinkedIn.
Why not vote in our LinkedIn ‘Young Driver’ poll: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Which-UK-car-insurer-delivers-4366560.S.102951217?view=&gid=4366560&type=member&item=102951217
Ok, so the link above is a bit of a mouthful! But we’re on a mission to get the premiums for Under 25′s down!!!!!!!
THIS IS THE YEAR
WE HAVE A MISSION TO DRIVE DOWN THE COST OF CAR INSURANCE FOR YOUNG DRIVERS THROUGHOUT THE UK.
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK………. TELL YOUR MATES ABOUT HOMEAPPROVED ON FACEBOOK………… LETS GET SOMETHING MOVING……….. AND WHEN YOUR NEXT MOTOR POLICY IS DUE FOR RENEWAL………… HOPEFULLY WITH OUR INFLUENCE IN THE INDUSTRY WE CAN HELP DELIVER CHEAPER PREMIUMS FOR UNDER 25′S!!!!!
