Comparison sites probed over claims of poor insurance coverage
PRICE comparison websites could be failing to sell customers insurance that meets their needs, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned yesterday, launching a probe into the way the sites operate.
The City watchdog is concerned that rankings of products by price on the sites may fail to explain to customers the details of the products they are buying.
That means customers may be buying insurance that they think offers a good deal but in fact does not give the insurance coverage they want.
The FCA will also look to see if insurance firms owning comparison websites leads to a damaging conflict of interests.
It will look at car, home and travel insurance across 14 sites making up more than 90 per cent of the market, and report back next year.
“We’ve all used a price comparison website so we know how simple they make buying motor, travel or home insurance,” said the FCA’s Clive Adamson. “We don’t want to lose that convenience, but we do need to ask the question, does cheapest equal best?”
Comparison sites including Compare the Market, Confused.com, Money Supermarket and Go Compare were unavailable for comment.