Insurancewide.com challenges 'middlemen' claim by Direct Line

Insurancewide.com chief executive James Harrison responds to Direct Line advertising campaign and Deloitte report findings.

Insurancewide.com is the UK's original online insurance comparison service and powers the insurance search engines for MSN, Yahoo, Tiscali and other major finance portals.

"It is misleading of Direct Line to suggest in its advertising that insurance comparison websites are 'middlemen'.The word middleman suggests that customer will pay more for a policy if it's bought through a comparison service.

This is not the case.

"Comparison websites exist to guide customers expertly through several hundred direct and indirect brands all competing for attention.

The job of the online comparison service - in asking customers to complete just one form - must be to filter this bewildering choice into a shortlist of competitive, relevant insurers that match the customer's profile.

More sophisticated systems such as Insurance.com take into account how successful an insurer has been with similar customers and ranks short-listed insurers accordingly.

"No insurer can possibly claim that its deals are suitable for every type of customer.

This is borne out by Direct Line's position in a new motor insurance report by Deloitte.

Out of 1000 'risks', it ranked in the top 3 (not no.

1) for only 257 of them.

"Direct Line may offer its customers 'unique benefits' other than good prices, but it should recognise that every customer values these benefits differently.

"A customer who uses a comparison website is far more likely to get a better deal than one who is tempted by the simplistic advertising of one single insurer.

"Customers should first identify who is competitive and then compare policies to find the best value cover for their needs.

By choosing not to appear on comparison websites, insurers are simply making the customer's life that much harder." a.

Insurancewide.com is the original online insurance comparison service.

It uses innovative technology to provide the fastest, most independent and easy-to-use way to compare insurers in the UK.

b.

No insurer can buy their way to 'top spot' on the Insurancewide site.

Insurers are matched to customers based on the relevance of their product, not the size of their marketing budget.

This unique factor differentiates Insurancewide from other comparison sites which compare price only.

c.

There are three vital elements making up the Insurancewide method of insurance comparison:- a..

the insurer's relevance to customer needs b..

the price which is influenced by underwriters' risk factors and loadings c..

the success rates achieved by insurers when dealing with similar customer profiles.

d.

Insurancewide.com is the only comparison system that takes into account all three of these elements before directing site users to the best value provider.

The company has strong and longstanding relationships with all the major direct and traditional UK insurance providers.As a result it has trading agreements in place with 95% of the UK online insurance market and access to 98% of the online motor insurance market.

For further information, please contact: Zena James on 07811 240167 or zena@insurancewide.co.ukEmma Cross on 020 7 395 5483 or emma@insurancewide.co.uk 20 July 2007.

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