Searching for good value insurance can be time consuming & confusing. Yes there are many comparison sites all claiming to search the "whole market" & have the "best deals available", but it is the very fact that there are so many, that makes it difficult to know where to get insurance. Although many sites claim that they search lots of different insurers to get you the best deal this is not always the case as they will only feature those insurers who pay them the most commission. Comparison sites act as "affiliates" for the insurers; this is a term that relates to companies or individuals who promote the products or services of other companies for a commission. When you visit an affiliate site (the comparison site) & click through to an insurance company & take out cover, then the insurance company will pay a commission to the affiliate. For this reason alone you should never just use one comparison site, as that particular site may not feature the insurer that has the best deal for your personal circumstances. Everybody has their own different circumstances when it comes to the type & level of cover they require, however insurers insist on placing people into groups or brackets meaning that they are not always getting the best deal. Often people will be paying over the top for levels of cover that they simple don't need. This includes business owners as well as individuals or families. There is not a lot you can do about being placed into a particular group or bracket however you can try & get a good deal by choosing the appropriate level of cover & excess you are willing to pay for any claim. Insurance companies will decide your premium basically by your age, where you live, your occupation, previous claims history & level of excess you are willing to pay. So as you can see there is not a lot you can do to reduce your premiums, as you can't change a lot of those criteria. What you can do is to take a little time to work out exactly what level of cover you require then try to find an insurer who has a bracket near that level. For instance, take house insurance, there will be fixed coverage amounts for your rebuild cost, but some insurers minimum level may be way over the amount you need, so it will pay you to look around. Also increasing the amount of excess you are willing to pay could give you very good savings. One thing that the majority of people will overlook when looking at where to get insurance is the reputation of the insurer. It is well worth doing a search on any company before taking out a policy with them. You will want to know what their customer service department is like, are they easy to get in touch with? Will you be held in a phone queue for an hour or more? What is their reputation for paying out claims? After all what is the use of a cheap insurance policy if you can't claim on it? Are there pages & pages of small print that will exclude you from making a claim? You should find all the answers to these questions by doing a Google search for "company name" followed by "review". You will most likely find out if there have been any particular problems with a company using this method, people are usually more than happy to post stories about their bad experiences with a companies service, they are less inclined however to post about good experiences, but you should find enough information to help you decide whether to choose a particular company or not. In summary there are not many companies that will allow you to "tailor make" an insurance policy to fit your exact circumstances, however if you spend some time doing some research you will find a policy that will fit your needs. Try at least 2 or 3 comparison sites & some company owned sites as well if possible & don't forget to check out the companies reputation before taking out a policy with them.
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