Following the concerns from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) about comparison websites, the spotlight is well and truly focussed on how these sites operate.What is less well known is that there are some comparison sites that genuinely cover virtually the whole market for their product areas and where products are compared against a set of features and benefits and not price.

These sites are powered by Defaqto Compare which utilises a method of highlighting how different products compare using a simple, yet highly effective, traffic light system. As Defaqto is an independent financial company, users can be certain that the comparisons are impartial and the data is right up to date.

At present Defaqto Compare is held on three insurers’ websites:

• Cornhill Direct - Car, Building and Contents Home Insurance¹
• Hiscox - Buildings and Contents Home Insurance²
• Pet Protect - Cat and Dog Insurance³

Consumers visiting each site will be able to compare the level of cover offered by the host insurer’s product across a number of important product features with the cover levels offered by any other policy. Three coloured symbols and some explanatory text are all that is needed to make very meaningful comparisons for the features shown:

• a green roundel with a tick indicates that the policy meets or exceeds the level of cover provided by the insurer;
• an orange roundel containing an exclamation mark indicates that the level of cover selected can be offered as an optional extra;
• a red roundel with a horizontal while bar means that the policy does not meet the level of cover provided by the insurer.

Brian Brown, Head of Insight at Defaqto said: “We have always emphasised the need for consumers to check out the quality of insurance policies, rather than concentrating just on price. If a policy does not provide the appropriate level of cover, while it may be relatively cheaper than one that does, it could prove very costly if something happened that wasn’t covered or not covered to the right level.”

-Ends-

Notes to Editors

¹ www.cornhilldirect.co.uk/homeinsurance/homedefaqtoComparisonTool.html

¹ www.cornhilldirect.co.uk/motorinsurance/car/motordefaqtoComparisonTool.html

² www.hiscoxonline.com/jsp/marketing/productsContents.jsp

³ www.petprotect.co.uk/TheRightCover/OurProducts/comparisontool.asp

For further information contact:

Defaqto Limited 

Chris Johnston or Luci Mylward

01844 295 454