Comparison Sites - Do they leave us exposed to invalid insurance?

[elmack]

I'm writing out of frustration and legitimate concern with the standards and practices within the British Insurance Industry.

 

I have just endured the long drawn out process of 2 car insurance renewals. Run of the mill stuff for any UK motorist. What do most people do? Either take on a non-competitive renewal or seek a more competitive deal from the market.

 

My concern is with the use of comparison sites and the potential for insurance policies to actually be deemed as invalid through no fault of person seeking to be insured.

 

My partner was unfortunate enough to have an accident last October, where she was a named driver on my policy. Now come time to use a comparison site and this opens up a nightmare.

 

Do I declare the claim against my policy? Do we declare the accident my partner suffered? I decided best to declare both and suffer the potential for two incidents to be recorded even though there was actually one.

 

I approached the comparison provider and two new insurers to ask this question only to find that nobody truly agrees. Comparison sites even ask different questions and map the questions differently to insurers.

 

RAC - Only I need to declare as the policy holder

 

Hastings Direct

1) Web advisor - only my partner needs to declare

2) Telephone advisor - both need to declare. I challenged this based on 1. The Tele advisor escalates this and informed me 3 managers debated and 2 came to the conclusion that only my partner needs to declare.

 

Moneysupermarket.com - Only my partner

 

There is clearly an absence of any guidelines in this area with arbitrary decisions being made. Whats more concerning is that a comparison site offers differing advice versus the insurers. Whats even more concerning still is that a consumer may answer incorrectly for a their chosen provider, without even knowing and hence their insurance could be deemed as invalid should they claim against their policy.

 

Neither RAC nor Hastings seemed concerned about this. When I visited the ABI it was clear from their website that they have no interest in such issues.

[unclebulgaria67]

Policyholder declares claim on their policy but not having the accident themselves. Named driver having the accident and having an insurance claim for it.

 

But you are correct that comparison sites and Insurers internet sites are not always set up to make it easy to declare accurate information.

 

I have said on here before, that if you have had claims, use the internet to get an idea, but do phone companies to arrange the policy, to ensure it is issued using accurate information.

 

Insurers should use commonsense where people have made a mistake online, but this is not always the case.