Save money on insurance products

What you need to know

What is insurance?

There are many types of insurance, from home to car, from pet to life. The role of insurance is to protect you, your money and your loved ones.

It works by creating an agreement with a provider. This agreement means you pay a fee, either monthly or annually. In return, if you were to experience loss, damage or ill health to the insured person, animal or thing, then the provider will compensate you.

Take an example, you pay £10 a month for pet insurance, your pet then has an accident and breaks their leg. In the UK, it costs an average of £809.94 to repair this. Rather than you cover the cost, your insurance will pay.

Types of insurance

What you’ll need

Before you select and buy any type of insurance, you must decide what it is you need.

Insurance is protection. If you don’t protect yourself enough, you can leave you and your loved ones more open to risk. Equally, it costs to protect, so buying too much protection can cost you more than you need to pay.

Think of it like selecting a safe. If you’re only putting in a few items that aren’t that valuable or sentimental, then you might buy a cheap one. Where something is valuable, then you’d look at the materials of the safe, the locking system and other details. You’ll make sure the level of protection reflects the value of what’s inside.

So this is what you need to do when you compare insurance products. The details of the products and protection will vary depending on type. So, do your research on each type to make sure you get the right cover.

A few examples of the difference

• With pets, think if you want to be covered for each new condition once or if you want lifetime cover that resets every year
• With contents, you need to estimate the value to replace your possessions
• With travel, you need to think whether you want cover for a single trip or multiple trips in a year

Can comparison sites help you?

Simple answer – yes. Comparison sites can be a helpful place to start your search. They allow you to capture your needs and they match those needs to many potential products from many potential providers. This means you can compare lots of options all in one place.

Three things to be aware of:

1. Not all insurance types are available on comparison sites
2. Exceptions will mean you’ll need specialist insurance that won’t be available to compare – for example, pre-existing health conditions
3. Not all providers put their products onto comparison sites.

What this means is that comparison sites are just one part of your insurance search. Plus they won’t be right for everyone and every kind of product. It’s worth using a search engine of your choice to do your own research and having a look at providers websites too.

I want to use a comparison site – how do I get started

So, you’ve decided you want to use this tool? Let’s get you started.

If you already have existing cover:

• Speak to your current provider – find out what their best price is to renew your cover
• Prepare your list of needs – Use your current cover details as a starting point

If you don’t have existing cover:

• Write you list of needs – Think about level of cover and specifics of what you might want to cover
• What might make your policy different? – Do you want any extra protections, do you want to pay annually?

Select a comparison site

It’s now time to select a site. This is also a very personal choice. Do your research and make sure the site fits your needs and is well trusted. You can often check this using online reviews.

Some well-known providers include

• Confused.com
• MoneySuperMarket
• Compare the Market
• GoCompare

Once you have selected:

1. Go to their website
2. Navigate to the type of insurance you want to compare
3. Fill in the details they ask for
4. Continue until they offer you a list of quotes
5. Compare these quotes against your list of needs

As you start looking through, check all of your needs have been met. You should at least have your essential needs, maybe even some nice to haves. Compare the price of the cover and make sure it’s not out of your range.

Once you have your top quote, you can navigate to the website of the provider. Here you’ll usually be asked to fill in a few more details before you can make your purchase.

Be aware, when you compare:

• Expect to give details – This helps to make sure they give you the right level of protection
• Give honest answers – Your insurance may be invalid if you don’t
• Not sure how much cover you need? – Most comparison sites have free tools to help you work this out
• Most insurance policies will have an excess – The amount you have to pay in the event of a claim. This is a mandatory excess, decided by the insurer. Plus, sometimes you can add an extra voluntary excess
• Increasing the voluntary excess may bring down your premium – But if you make a claim, you must pay the whole excess. So think about how much you could afford
• Along with the premium, think about the total excess and level of cover – To make sure you’re comparing like for like
• Look at the extra cover options – Such as accidental damage cover, taking personal belongings away from the home etc
• Make sure you’re not ‘under-covered’ – This could impact any how much money you get if you make a claim
• Your new insurer may ask for information from the old insurer – For example, proof of no claims
• Check for exclusions or special conditions – Like the types of lock you have on your external doors

Before you buy:

• Always try to compare like-for-like – One quote may be lower in price, but it might be missing one of your needs
• Check your details – When the comparison site takes you to a supplier, make sure everything has copied right
• Read the policy wording carefully – Read the insurance documents and policy booklet, too

Why go direct?

Comparison sites have a purpose and their benefits, but there are a few reasons why you might want to think about going direct.

Going direct can help:

• Make sure you see all products each provider has to offer
• Show you products and providers that aren’t on any comparison sites
• Remove the need to put your details in twice

You can also do both to compare even more options. Going direct and using comparison sites are both useful tools in searching for products that are right for you. So do think about using a search engine of your choice to look at reviews and compare all your options

Further support

For advice and support on this and other issues, both the Money Helper site and Citizens Advice may be able to help.