Confused.com: Which? report on price comparison sites

Carlton Hood, CEO of Confused.com, says: "We are surprised by the findings of the Which? report, as Confused.com prides itself on the accuracy of our prices and the transparency of our service. I would question the comprehensiveness of the Which? findings, given the obvious small number of test quotes that Which? has carried out and drawn its conclusions from. In addition, Which? seems to have overlooked the benefits which price comparison sites have brought to a traditionally complex market, and the many millions of pounds that customers have saved by using Confused.com over the past six years.

"More than one million customers per month visit Confused.com for quotations and last year 1.2 million people saved money by using the website. It would have been very difficult for those customers to have made those savings without using a price comparison site. On average, customers using Confused.com saved £208 on car insurance, and £193 on home insurance.

"The price comparison industry is complex and dynamic and, as such, we constantly audit our service to ensure that we consistently offer customers the most competitive deals available. Our last internal check found that, in 96% of cases, customers are offered the same price via Confused.com as they are when they go direct. In the very small number of cases where a discrepancy occurs, we bring this to the attention of the insurer and rectify the situation.

"I would also like to point out that customers using Confused.com are not purely interested in the cheapest price; customers also want to ensure that they are buying the ‘right' insurance package for them. Our experience, as one of the longest established price comparison sites, has enabled us to develop one of the most comprehensive sets of questions on the market. This allows us to not only return the most competitive quotes for customers, but also the best selection of policy types and benefits."