David Hurst

Every ad break on every show I watch on TV, one of these car insurance websites is telling me that I can save money on my insurance bills with them. They all claim to be cheaper than each other, so you could be forgiven for expecting to actually get cheap insurance premiums right?

I had to arrange insurance for the new family roadster, a Fiat Grande Punto. It’s only a 1.3 diesel, so I’m not really expecting to have to pay top dollar. My experience over the years has always been that it is cheapest to buy your car insurance from Direct Line, and yet still, each time I need some, I feel the need to shop around. Every time I do, I usually end up back where I started with Direct Line. Anyway, I thought I’d get a few quotes for the Punto, the question is: where do I start?

Well, I decided not to bother with Norwich Union. I called them a couple of years ago for a quote on my Fiat Coupe and was given a figure of £1,600. I now understand the “Quote Me Happy” slogan: they quote you, you fall about laughing, and then you phone someone else. In this case I phoned Direct Line and insured my coop for £350. So, I narrowed my list down to three places this time:

1. Confused.com - because I hate their TV commercials so much. I don’t believe they can save money and I wanted to verify this.
2. Tesco - my business partner Tom is convinced they are the cheapest.
3. Direct Line - because they are bound to be cheaper than the above.

So, confused.com - not an actual insurer, but one of the new scourge of Internet price comparison websites that are systematically re-channelling profits away from the actual provider into the pockets of a middle man. I’m convinced this is ultimately bad for the consumer, as it will result in inevitable price increases. If the insurance company has to pay a cut to confused.com, then you are not getting the best price, and the provider is not getting the best margin. Anyway, after inputting all the details (and there are a lot of details to be entered), I got a list of insurance quotes in order of cheapest. The top entry was some budget outfit that I had never heard of, that had a huge excess and no windscreen cover. There’s no way I would take such a useless policy - the chances of a smooth payout if you ever needed one are slimmer than Beckham’s missus. Anyway the amazing price was £228. Bearing in mind I pay £330 for a group 19 performance car, this seemed excessive.

Next up, Tesco. I have noticed that Tesco’s insurance paperwork and quoting engine are identical to Direct Line’s. Does this mean Tesco car insurance is actually Direct Line? I don’t know, but, they were cheaper at £198. They also offered me a “Value” policy, so called because it has no value, just like the rest of Tesco’s “Value” range. Not for me thanks.

And finally, Direct Line, who came in at £152. Thanks very much. I’ll take two.

In fact, as my Coupe was already insured with Direct Line, I just adjusted my existing policy. I got a refund and they covered the Coupe for another 2 weeks free of charge to give me time to sell it.

So, if you’re looking for insurance, I reckon you are much better off going direct to the insurers, rather than helping fund Confused.com’s directors’ new fleet of Ferraris, which will probably be insured with Direct Line, because they’re cheapest.