Price comparison sites The best and worst price comparison sites
78% of members who use price comparison sites search for car insurance
According to Which? research, around 55% of our readers use price comparison websites when shopping for financial products and services or comparing gas and electricity providers.
However, price comparison sites don't perform as well as individual product providers when it comes to customer satisfaction; while Which? members' favourite credit card providers, home insurers and car insurers each score above 60% on average, comparison websites average a customer satisfaction score of below 50%.
On this page, we reveal the results of our review of price comparison websites, offering key facts about each as well as things to watch out for when using them. Please note, we have listed the websites in alphabetical order - not based on the results of our investigation.
Comparethemarket.com
- Achieved a customer satisfaction score of 45%
- Allows users to compare products from more 400 insurance providers
- Famous for its meerkat marketing campaigns
- Watch out: Comparethemarket.com pre-selects the 'annual payment' option when selling car insurance. If you need to pay for your car insurance policy in instalments, you'll have to untick this box before completing your transaction - although depending on which policy you have chosen, paying for your cover by monthly direct debit may cost you more overall.
Confused.com
- Achieved a customer satisfaction score of 44%
- Part of the Admiral Group of insurance firms
- Research company Mintel estimates that Confused.com has a 13% share of the price comparison market
- Watch out: Like Comparethemarket.com, Confused.com pre-selects annual payment for car insurance - so you'll need to change this manually if necessary.
Gocompare.com
- Achieved a customer satisfaction score of 43%
- Gocompare.com is the second biggest player in the comparison site market, with a 20% share
- Watch out: Again, Gocompare.com will pre-select the annual payment option for consumers buying car insurance.
Moneyextra.com
- Achieved a customer satisfaction score of 38%
- Provides information on deals from more than 70 mortgage lenders
- Offers access to Independent Financial Advisers
- Has no pre-selected payment box for car insurance.
Moneysupermarket.com
- Achieved a customer satisfaction score of 47%
- Moneysupermarket.com is the biggest player in the comparison site market, with an estimated 38% share of UK customers
- Relaunched several of its channels including car insurance, credit cards and savings accounts last year in a bid to make them more user-friendly
- Watch out: Preselects the 'monthly payments' option for consumers buying car insurance.
Tescocompare.com
- Achieved a customer satisfaction score of 41%
- Part of the Tesco Personal Finance Group
- Not as established within the market as other big price comparison brands - but spent £15 million on advertising in 2009/10
- Has no pre-selected payment box for car insurance.
Uswitch.com
- Achieved a customer satisfaction score of 45%
- Owned by the Forward Internet Group, a privately funded collection of online service providers
- A relatively big player in the price comparison market, Uswitch.com spent £2.4 million on advertising in 2009/10
- Watch out: Uswitch.com pre-selects the annual payment box for car insurance customers.
