If you want to buy your insurance online there are hundreds of websites you could search. But for independence and advice, youll need to look a bit harder, finds Jane Attwood
Buying insurance online is getting easier all the time. From life insurance to MPPI, there are a range of good-value insurers you can access at the click of a mouse.
If you need help finding the best insurance policy for you and with dozens of providers with hundreds of policies its hardly surprising if you do a broker offering advice can help. We will focus on online insurance brokers as opposed to the websites of individual insurers, as brokers worth their salt will include many single providers in their large panels of insurers.
Internet v face-to-face
The obvious benefit of using an online broker is the convenience; you can sit in the comfort of your own home at any time of day or night to research and shop around. An online broker might also have fewer overheads, so can pass on this saving through lower rates on the insurance products it offers.
Talking to an insurance intermediary in person, on the other hand, could prompt important questions affecting your policy and premium that dont come up in the generic website quotation.
The moment you move away from the 2.4 children circumstances, says Peter Staddon, head of technical services at the British Insurance Brokers Association, you really need to speak to someone. A broker will be aware of the things that will invalidate policies and will know whats going on in the market day-to-day.
At your fingertips
Naturally, price is an imp ortant factor in judging a good product, but its not the only one. You have to establish which type of product will suit you best and what the policy terms are for making a claim. When youre shopping on the internet for your insurance, its not always that easy to get hold of this information.
An online broker can cut out some of the essentials. For example, it might omit questions about medical history or the point that the life policy pays out only after a certain time period. However, very few sites allow you to go through from start to finish online and will telephone before you can proceed past the initial stages.
When What Mortgage went mystery shopping for a life insurance quotation three out of five companies telephoned before giving us a quote.
Kevin Carr, senior technical adviser at LifeSearch, makes an even bolder statement: Theres no website that gives customers enough information to make an informed decision. The questions customers should be asked are being hidden. He believes that people are often not getting the whole picture when it comes to protection insurance and that this will be the basis of the next misselling scandal.
Regulation
All insurance became regulated in January this year, which also includes any advisory services offered.
Customers must be provided with a written Key Facts document about the insurer and the policy. If the broker also provides advice they are obliged to recommend the most suitable product for the customer.
Surprisingly, if you ask for a few of the best rates and the adviser either over the phone or face-to-face tells you, this is not considered to be advice. FSA spokesman Robin Gordon-Walker says advice is defined as when a recommendation is made, but also when the company goes beyond being the middle man to place their order.
However, what is clear is that if a company does not give advice, this will be stated at the start of your enquiry. So if you need some more help, always keep looking until you find it.
