Despite many years of internet use and the proliferation of comparison sites, it seems the message is not getting through to a huge section of society. Five million UK motorists claim they do not compare their insurance quotes before they buy, leading to a possible loss of up to 1billion per year.
Leading comparison site GoCompare.com has released these figures which resulted from a recent survey they undertook. They found that 19% of respondents simply renew their quotes without doing any checks on how favourable it is compared to others in the market.
This is despite 50% of drivers claiming they fear their yearly insurance bill being higher than last years and another 70% accepting that comparison sites offer the most effective way of finding the best deals.
27% said the reason for not comparing was because the quote was the cheapest last year and they assume it will be this year.
We completely agree with, and have written several pieces on, GoCompare’s Hayley Parsons comments that insurers will almost always offer their best deals to new customers and that loyalty to an insurance company almost never pays.
ComparetheMarket.com has discovered that the customer most likely to switch is in fact young female drivers. Being more internet savvy they tend to take the time to do the necessary comparisons. Their research has found that nearly 80% of insurance shoppers who do choose to switch, do their research and make their purchase on-line. Most obtain 4 quotes before making their decision.
Moneysupermarket.com has estimated that many insurance customers can reduce their insurance bill by an average of 152 per year by shopping around. They say that the policy of automatic renewal on insurance policies is to blame for the complacent attitude of many customers. Doing nothing seems to be easier than 10 minutes in front of the computer.
It is not unfair to assume that if customers had to call their insurer to renew their policy, they would take the time to compare the price before doing so.
Specialist Cover Providers
