Comparing the comparers

9:33am Friday 4th July 2008

Comparison sites offer to get you a better insurance, mortgage or credit card deal. But how accurate are they? We have a look at the best

THE cost of car insurance is soaring. It now costs an average of £100 more than it did this time last year. And it's going to get worse. Industry experts estimate that by this time next year it will cost another £100 more. Ouch. Time to shop around.

The easiest way is to use an internet comparison site. More of us do.

More than a quarter of us check on a comparison site before renewing our car insurance. And they are very easy to use.

All you have to do is fill in all your details just once, and they will trawl through a number of top insurers and, within seconds, present you with a dozen or more quotes. It's wonderfully quick and very easy.

But which comparison site? And how accurate are they?

There are lots of them, all promising to save us money. But closer inspection reveals differences between them - and the changing state of car insurance.

Once upon a time it was simple - you had third party cover, which you have to have by law, with or without fire and theft cover, or you had comprehensive, which covered everything.

Not any more, it doesn't. Just as airlines have started counting all sorts of things - like checking in or taking luggage - as extras, so have car insurance companies quietly started stripping items from their allegedly comprehensive cover.

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

■ What's included. Courtesy car, windscreen cover, legal cover and foreign cover - once automatically part of "comprehensive" insurance are now optional extras. Leaving these out will push a quote nearer to the top of the ratings for cheapness. You might not be comparing like with like.

■ Full information. Any comparison site that has a whole lot of sections marked "check with provider" is not doing its job properly.

■ Different quotes from the same insurer.

The cheaper one at the top of the list will be called something like "standard", "budget" or "value" - it usually means there's something missing. Look closely.

■ The excess. One way of cutting the cost of insurance is increasing the amount you pay towards the cost of repairs after an accident. £100 is fairly standard. But some quotes include an excess payment of up to £400 - which can come as a nasty shock if you haven't read the small print. One site quoted me a Marks & Spencer policy for £238, another for £249. The more expensive quote had an excess of £100, the cheaper policy excess was £250. You pays yer money.

■ Often because of the excess involved, the quote you get from the comparison website might not be the same as the one you get when you are transferred through to the actual insurer.

Don't just click automatically before checking the price.

■ Paying in instalments? The price quoted is for a one-off payment. Paying in instalments could cost a lot more. A policy for £269 becomes £302.50 when you pay monthly.

■ Extras. All sorts of enticements to tempt you to buy include £50 of M&S vouchers, free breakdown cover, fiveyear warranty on repairs, £50 cashback or a free £100 pressure washer.

Just make sure that the policy is really the one you want first.

■ Variation. Because each comparison site asks for slightly different information, it can give slightly different results. Though most quotes are fairly standard across the sites, we found some quotes varied by as much as £30 for the same details. Odd.

OUR FAVOURITES We looked at a selection of different comparison sites. Many were much of a muchness. Some were hopeless.

Those we liked best were: www.gocompare.com This was the clearest of all. Showed instantly which features were offered by all the various insurers, the total excess payable and any bonuses offered.

Very simple and brilliantly easy to compare.

www.uswitch.com Another very detailed and easy site to use.

www.moneysupermarket.com As well as being a clear and easy site, this also offered the bonus of customer reviews of the various insurers. Interesting and illuminating to read other people's experiences and if there's not much to choose between the top three companies, customer recommendation can make a real difference.

REMEMBER

Even if you can't use a comparison site, it's never a good idea to renew any insurance - but especially car insurance - without getting another couple of quotes to see if you can get a better deal. You often can. Insurers don't set much store by loyalty - so neither should we.

Bottles of summer

A LONDON friend walking down our lane last week, suddenly stopped under an elderflower tree heavy with creamy white blossom and went into ecstasies. "That is the smell of an English summer" she said.

Elderflowers have a wonderful intoxicating scent that translates well into cordials and wines. They were even giving out free glasses of English Heritage elderflower wine at Richmond Castle at the weekend. Very cheering.

Elderflower cordials go brilliantly sprinkled on strawberries, sloshed into gooseberries and, even better, sloshed into gin. Here are some of our favourites:

Bottlegreen elderflower cordial, £2.79 for 500ml. Crisp clean flavour. Quite sophisticated.

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference English pear and elderflower cordial, 500ml for £2.19. Tastes far more of pears than elderflowers. But still good.

Belvoir organic elderflower cordial, 70cl for £2.99. Tasted most like the drink Granny used to make. Very sweet.

Duchy Original, £3.90 for 500ml.

Expensive but delicious.

Bouquets of the Week

Dear Sharon,

PLEASE could I say a big thank you to my mum, Sandra, in your column.

In 2006, two days before Christmas, mum gave me the chance to leave my abusive husband, so with two kids as well as a cat and dog, we all moved in with my mum.

Eighteen months later we are still there. As I have been sorting things out with my ex, times have often been awful with court visits and all the problems involved. It has not been easy and my mum has been in the middle of it all.

She has stood by me and the kids and has been my rock. I have moved on with my life and it is finally going right for a change. I couldn't have done it without my mum. She has been brilliant and I would love to thank her in this way.

Paula Thompson, Barnard Castle

* We all know that being a mum doesn't stop when your children leave home. It doesn't always get easier either.

Congratulations to Paula for getting her life back on track and we're sending mum Sandra this week's bouquet for all her help in a very tricky situation.

DOROTHY and her team at Portrack Lane Bed Centre in Stockton came to the rescue when Jan Bennett's bedroom was in danger of turning into a disaster zone. "It was because of manufacturing problems beyond their control, but they were brilliant and pulled out all the stops, even lending us a bed frame so we didn't have to sleep on a mattress on the floor for several weeks. Nothing was too much trouble for them. It's only when things go wrong that you really appreciate top-class service."

Elsie Roe and her husband are in their late 70s. When their car broke down en route to Asda in Bishop Auckland, they had to get a taxi and arrived in a bit of a flutter. "Angela who always gets me a buggy was so helpful.

She also went out of her way to help us when we needed the taxi to get home again.

"The greeters at Asda do wonderful work for the elderly and handicapped. I can walk a little but the greeters are on the alert all the time, ready to help. We go to Asda because of them. Please ask the company not to cut their hours as they do wonderful work, especially Angela."

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