Insurancewide.com: Defaqto report on comparison websites

James Harrison, CEO of the original insurance comparison website, Insurancewide.com, said: “The Defaqto report on motor insurance aggregators makes several valid points about misleading marketing messages and limited access to the UK insurance market. We are confident at Insurancewide.com that these findings don’t apply to the way we operate. Our partnerships with Yahoo, MSN, Tiscali, AOL and other major finance portals, for whom we are the insurance search engine, involve a strict review process each year which requires us to prove that we provide the best possible service to customers. Good aggregators do provide a really useful service, but you need to do your research to see through marketing messages and to be sure you’re visiting a true aggregator, not just a broker."

“Unlike Insurancewide.com, which is independent, some comparison websites, including ones which scored highly in Defaqto's report, provide quotes only from their own in-house brands and are not therefore reliable guides to what is available from the whole market. Websites operated by insurance brokers can deliver quotes from only 50-60% of the UK’s insurers, depending on their expertise and their ability to command good prices from the insurance market."

“Insurancewide.com is the only aggregator that searches a wide range of niche and specialist insurers as well as general insurers. It‘s annoying for anyone to fill out a detailed form only to find that they’re not eligible for the required insurance at the end of it. Our comparison system makes a point of matching the suitability and relevance of the insurer to the customer’s profile as well as price and we rank shortlisted insurers accordingly."

“We can direct customers of every possible profile to an insurer or broker that can help them. People often think they won’t be able to find insurance because of their unusual circumstances or claims history. But there is an insurer out here for pretty much every type of customer if you know where to look.”

“The number of aggregators is bound to increase as technology becomes more readily available. Yet insurers will reject them if they fail to provide acceptable levels of business and will start avoiding aggregators whose systems send them ‘unsuitable’ customers who don’t present the type of ‘risk’ they are designed to insure.”