It’s easy to see why price comparison sites have become more popular over the course of the last few years; they streamline the process of finding the best possible insurance cover and are seen to be useful when searching for a good deal. But recent findings suggest that this ease of use comes at a cost.

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), using a comparison website when searching your car insurance can end up being more expensive, in part due to hidden commission costs that are paid to the websites which are included in the insurance prices offered. This, in turn, has caused car insurance premiums to shoot up on said websites.

Typically, price comparison sites require less details from customers, leading to assumptions about your driving habits that may not be true. This could lead to your insurance being invalid if an assumed answer is incorrect, costing you a fortune. 

Such presumptions can be particularly damaging when it comes to details of incidents and accidents on your insurance history that may not have even resulted in a claim but may be assumed to have resulted in a claim. This is because further questions were not asked, which could could cause drivers to pay for higher premiums than they need to. 

When taking out car insurance policies, it is important that you check the terms and conditions to ensure that your driving activity will not compromise the policy. A large proportion of people do not check the small print prior to taking out car insurance and so may not realise that they could break the rules of the policy without realizing. 

This can result in the policy being invalid. For example, you may have stated that you leave your car parked at home at night on your policy, but you may use your car to commute to night shifts. If something happens to your vehicle whilst parked at work your insurance policy may not be valid. This is because the insurers were not aware that your car is kept at work overnight most of the time, making the act of checking the conditions set out in your policy vital and a potential money saver.