Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Quotezone Car Insurance Review

The Car Insurance Television independent car insurance review panel look at

CAR INSURANCE COMPANY: Quotezone
Website: http://www.quotezone.co.uk

Quotezone Car Insurance Review

About the Website - Quotezone are an independent company not associated to an insurance broker or insurance company. They provide a quote comparison system similar to the major aggregators.

Our Review Methodology
We asked a large team of people to visit the Quotezone website and report back to us with a questionaire about how easy the car insurance website was to use and whether the website offered all the car insurance services and covers they required as potential customers.

Our Car Insurance review team consisted of a wide cross section of the UK population, various car makes and types, occupations, driving histories and ages; the only common factor was that none of the team had bought car insurance online before we started the review process.

The object of the car insurance review was to assess the ease of use of the Quotezone site and availability of online information to aid purchasing cover. We specifically asked the team to look at the range of cover options, functionality and services offered by the site; and not just to compare car insurance quotes prices and premiums.

The Review

Q. Is the car insurance company currently offering any special discounts or offers?
A. None.

Q. Is telephone help readily available from the webpage?
A. Only a email address.

Q. Is there a claims section readily accessible?
A. No, Quotezone deals solely with quotes.

Q. Was it easy to find the quote page?
A. Very.

Q. Was there an option to recall a previous quote?
A. Yes.

Q. Are there any restrictions to getting a quote?
A. Yes but only a minimum age.

Q. What are the minimum and maximum ages?
A. The minimum age was 17 and no maximum was specified.

Q. Are Kit Cars, Q plates and modified vehicles covered?
A. Yes, they ask for details of mods and the cars origin so as to obtain a fair quote.

Q. Do they cover Northern Ireland (NI)?
A. Yes and the quotes for the region were very competitive.

Q. How many pages are there before you get a quote?
A. There was only one page but you were given questions individually in order to collect data and many respondents felt there were more questions than necessary.

Q. Does the application find your address easily from the postcode?
A. Yes.

Q. What is the maximum number of NCD years allowed?
A. There was no maximum.

Q. Does the car details come automatically from the DVLA when the reg no is entered?
A. Yes although the reg wasn’t necessary to proceed.

Q. What are the maximum and minimum Voluntary Excess Amounts?
A. 0-500 pounds.

Q. How many accidents are you allowed?
A. You just had to give details of all accidents.

The Car Insurance Cover


Q. Did you understand the levels of cover you were getting?
A. There were no explanations when you choose your cover level.

Q. What additional covers were offered eg Breakdown cover, glass cover etc?
A. Each company offered different additions.

Q. Were these covers included or do you have to pay extra?
A. These were inclusive.

Q. Could you remove specific covers to make the quoted premium cheaper?
A. No.

Q. Can you save the quote to return to this site later?
A. Yes you had to set up an account in the contact section of the questions.

Q. Are you offered the policy documents and keyfacts documents to read before you purchase?
A. Not until you are directed to the site of the policy you choose, but yes before purchase.

Q. What payment methods are available?
A. You had links next to the quotes which gave details of finalizing your quote with the selected insurer.

Quotezone Car Insurance

Q. Are you still at the same site or have you been passed to the insurance company site to complete the purchasing?
A. You were directed to specific sites to finalize the process.

Overall

Q. Was it easy to understand what the questions wanted? – Were there additional help boxes?
A. There were useful advice bubbles on some questions.

Q. Were all the questions necessary?
A. It was widely felt that there were too many contact questions and you had to give answers to proceed.

Q. Could you change things like voluntary excess to get a requote
A. No you could not requote without going back through the questions.

Q. How long did it take to get a quote?
A. On Average about 10 mins.

Q. How many quotes were returned?
A. On Average - 77 but several brokers offered multiple quotes

Q. Were the quotes competitive?
A. You are offered a range of quotes, some of which were very competitive!

Q. Do the quotes offered have different levels of cover?
They were all comprehensive but had different extras dependent upon the company quoting.

Q. How did you find the navigation? Was it easy to move around?
A. The site was very clear and the navigation straightforward but slightly misleading as to the process of finalising the quote.

Q. What did you like or dislike about this site and Why?
A. The most general complaint from nearly all our respondents was that "it bragged only one question page but failed to mention it was 4 time larger than a usual page, and you are then sent off to another site".

Another major criticism voiced by many in the survey team, was that it claimed to get quotes from 90 insurers but on average 13 did not return a quote and the other 77 contained many multiple quotes from the same insurer.

Q. Was the website quick or slow?
A. On average - Fairly slow.

Q. Was the site easy to use?
On a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being hard to use and 5 being very easy - how would you rate it?
A. 3.5 - The site seemed straightforward with good quotes returned, but functionally it turned out less then it claimed in certain areas.

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Thursday, 4 February 2010

Compare The Market Car Insurance Review

REVIEW OF COMPARETHEMARKET.com

CAR INSURANCE COMPANY: Compare The Market
Website: http://www.comparethemarket.com


Type: Insurance aggregator price comparison website owned by Insurance Brokers.

We asked a large team of people to visit the Compare The Market Car Insurance website and report back to us about how easy it was to use and whether the website offered all the car insurance services and covers they required as customers.
Our Car Insurance review team consisted of a cross section of UK demographics, car types , occupations and ages; the only common factor was that none of the team had bought car insurance online before.
The object of the car insurance review was to rate the ease of use, online information, cover options and services of the website; not just to compare car insurance quotes and covers.

compare the market

About the Website:
comparethemarket.com is one of the top UK price comparison websites comparing over 400 prices for car insurance. It is owned and operated by BISL, formerly Budget Insurance Services Ltd.
Visitors to comparethemarket.com can benefit from comparisons between top providers against various products including car, home and van insurance to receive quotes instantly!
Compare the Market claim that 99% of visitors to the site could save money on their car insurance!*
The website has enjoyed massive UK interest thanks to the viral TV ad campaign featuring Alexsandr the Meerkat and the social media website ComparetheMeerkat.com.

*Based on online independent research by Consumer Intelligence during 01 November 2009 to 30 November 2009.




The Review

Q. Is the car insurance company offering any special discounts or offers?
A. As a comparison site it has different companies offering different offers and discounts.

Q. Is telephone help readily available from the webpage?
A. No, but there is a choice of websites offering phone help and services.

Q. Is there a claims section readily accessible?
A. No, claims are dealt with by the company issuing the policy

Q. Was it easy to find the quote page?
A. Yes, very easy.

Q. Was there an option to recall a previous quote?
A. Yes, through an account you can set up.

Policy Restrictions?

Q. Are there any restrictions to getting a quote?
A. Some

Q. What are the minimum and maximum ages?
A. There are none

Q. Do they cover all professions?
A. Yes.

Q. Are Kit Cars, Q plates and modified vehicles covered?
A. They do not cover q plates.

Q. Do they cover Northern Ireland (NI)?
A. Yes, they cover the whole of the UK but have less offerings for NI.

Q. Are drivers with convictions covered?
A. Yes, but they require details of all convictions in the last 5 years.

Q. How many claims in the last three years are allowed?
A. There was no limit

Getting a Quote

Q. How many pages are there before you get a quote?
A. Three.

Q. Does the application find your address easily from the postcode?
A. Yes

Q. What is the maximum number of NCD years allowed?
A. Nine +

Q. Can you protect your No Claims Bonus?
A. Yes, Individual offers from different companies have different extras attached, most charge an additional premium.

Q. Does the car details come automatically from the DVLA when the registration number is entered?
A. Yes, or you can enter the car details manually if the registration isn’t known.

Q. What are the maximum and minimum Voluntary Excess Amounts?
A. You could not alter the excess without choosing a quote from a particular company.

Q. How many accidents are you allowed?
A. There was no limit but you had to give all details of any previous claims.

General Observations

Q. Was it easy to understand what the questions wanted? Were there any help boxes?
A. Yes, very easy with help boxes on most questions.

Q. Were all the questions necessary?
A. Yes, it appeared so.

Q. Could you change things like voluntary excess to get a requote?
A. No.

Q. How long did it take to get a quote?
A. Under 5 minutes.

Q. How many quotes were returned?
A. On average 58.

Q. Were the quotes competitive?
A. Yes, quotes offered had a range of over GBP 1500 difference

Q. Do the quotes offered have different levels of cover?
A. Yes, they varied quite a lot between different companies

Q. Can you go back and requote?
A. No

Q. Did you understand the levels of cover you were getting?
A. There were brief descriptions of the levels of cover offered by different companies

Q. What additional covers were offered eg Breakdown cover, glass cover etc?
A. Different companies had different additions at differing costs.

Q. Were these covers included or do you have to pay extra?
A. The additions available were inclusive in the quote.

Q. Could you remove covers to make the quote cheaper?
A. No.

Q. Can you save the quote to return to this site later?
A. Yes, and they emailed your top quotes for you to study in your own time.

Q. Are you offered the policy documents and keyfacts documents to read before you purchase?
A. No, the quote when followed up provide only a reference and a telephone number

Q. Was this easy or discouraged from viewing these documents before purchasing?
A. Only available once you have chosen a company.

Q. What payment methods are available?
A. All

Q. Were you asked for more personal or car details before you could purchase? If yes what?
A. No

Q. How did you find the navigation? Was it easy to move around?
A. It was simple but basic.

Q. Did you like or dislike this site? Why?
A. The site was generally very easy to use.

Q. Did the site live up to any expectations - eg from ads or TV ads
A. There was a lack of information about products though the range was very good.

Q. Was the site quick or slow?
A. Fairly quick.

Q. Was the site easy to use? On a scale of 1 to 5 , 1 being hard to use and 5 being very easy - how would you rate it
A. 4/5

comparethemarket.com

Overall Comparethemarket.com was well received by the majority of our respondants, with good value prices and a clean easy to use website. Further product information would be an improvement.

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Monday, 1 February 2010

Endsleigh Car Insurance Review

We asked a large team of people to visit the Endsleigh Car Insurance website and report back to us about how easy it was to use and whether the website offered all the car insurance services and covers they required.
The Car Insurance review team consisted of a cross section of UK demographics, car types , occupations and ages; the only common factor was that none of the team had bought car insurance online before.
The object of the review was to rate the ease of use, online information, cover options and services of the website; not just to compare car insurance quotes and covers.

CAR INSURANCE COMPANY: Endsleigh Car Insurance
Website: http://www.endsleigh.co.uk
Insurance Website Type : Car Insurance Brokers offering comparative backend quoting system

Endsleigh Car Insurance














REVIEW

Q. Are Endsleigh car insurance offering any special discounts or offers?
A. There were no offers displayed.

Q. Is there a discount if you purchase online?
A. My quote claimed that an online discount had been applied but I was not made aware there was one!

Q. Is telephone help readily available from the webpage?
A. There is a link to a contact page with many numbers and email addresses.

Q. Is there a claims section readily accessible?
A. Yes, and easy to use with options for online claims as well.

Q. Was it easy to find the quote page?
A. Yes, very and straightforward.

Q. Was there an option to recall a previous quote?
A. Yes, you could save quotes to recall later.

Endsleigh Car Insurance




About Cover and Policy Restrictions.

Q. Are there any restrictions to getting a quote?
A. There were none immediately obvious in getting a quote - they came across as accepting of all types of drivers.

Q. What are the minimum and maximum ages?
A. They had a separate section for drivers over 50.

Q. Do they cover all professions?
A. Yes

Q. Are Kit Cars, Q plates and modified vehicles covered?
A. Yes but need they all need declaring.

Q. Do they cover Northern Ireland (NI)?
A. They cover the U.K but were unclear about NI.

Q. Are drivers with convictions covered?
A. Yes motoring Convictions, but they need to know how many you have had in the last three years.

Q. How many claims in the last three years are allowed?
A. They did not ask about previous claims, or give a maximum claims allowed.

Getting A Quote

Q. How many pages are there before you get a quote?
A. 1.

Q. Does the application find your address easily from the postcode?
A. Yes.

Q. What is the maximum number of NCD years allowed?
A. 9 years.

Q. Can you protect NCD?
A. Yes, for an extra premium.

Q. Does the car details come automatically from the DVLA when the registration number is entered?
A. Yes or you can enter manually.

Q. What are the maximum and minimum Voluntary Excess Amounts?
A. GBP 0 to GBP 2000

General Thoughts

Q. Was it easy to understand what the questions wanted and were there help boxes?
A. There were help boxes on all the necessary questions.

Q. Were all the questions necessary?
A. Yes and less intrusive than usual.

Q. Could you change things like voluntary excess to get a requote.
A. Yes.

Q. How long did it take to get a quote?
A. Less than 5 mins.

Q. How many quotes were returned?
A. 1.

Q. Do the quotes offered have different levels of cover?
A. You chose the cover as you made the quote.

Q. Can you go back and requote?
A. Yes, by amending your details on the same page.

Q. Did you understand the levels of cover you were getting?
A. Yes, the help boxes were very clear and informative.

Q. What additional covers options were offered?
A. The site offered many covers such as road rage, repair guarantee, legal, wind screen cover but most were an optional extra unless comprehensive.

Q. Were these covers included or do you have to pay extra?
A. They were included for comprehensive cover.

Q. Could you remove covers to make the quote cheaper?
A. You are originally quoted with no extras attached and then you add what extras you want and your quote builds up.

Q. Can you save the quote to return to this site later?
A. Yes.

Q. Are you offered the policy documents and keyfacts documents to read before you purchase?
A. Yes but you cannot find them anywhere until you get to the final stages of a quote.

Q. Was this easy or discouraged from viewing these documents before purchasing?
A. It was encouraged.

Q. What payment methods are available?
A. All methods including monthly premiums.

Q. Were you asked for more personal or car details before you could purchase? If yes what?
A. I could not proceed without the registration number.

Overall Opinions of the Website

Q. How did you find the navigation? Was it easy to move around?
A. The site was simple to navigate.

Q. Did you like or dislike this site? Why?
A. Ok - The site seemed good at first but when explored didnt feel very informative as you couldn't view policy documents until the system had decided the insurance company.
Very good competitive premiums for students and young drivers generally.

Q. Was the website quick or slow?
A. Fairly quick - especially quick to get a quote.

Q. Was the site easy to use? On a scale of 1 to 5 , 1 being hard to use and 5 being very easy - how would you rate it?

A. The site was very simple to use with a fast quotes. it could have been more informative about the products. Overall score 4/5.

Endsleigh Car Insurance




All our respondents were impressed at the speed of Endsleigh Car Insurance in returning quotes. The site is flexible and offers a wide range of covers, and is particularly goood for young drivers, professionals and some specialist markets.
Being an Insurance Broker, Endsleigh Car Insurance is able to offer excellent additional services such as claims and telephone assistance.

A Car Insurance Television Review 2010.

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Wednesday, 15 July 2009

Elephant Car Insurance Review

Elephant Car Insurance Review



elephant.co.uk is part of the Admiral group of insurance companies based in Cardiff, and is an online Internet only car insurance company which was launched in August 2000. Famous for UK televison commercials featuring the cartoon elephant and the slogan 'Even Cheaper Car Insurance', the company now has over 350,000 customers.

Like the Admiral site, the Elehant car insurance quote system is easy to use with an uncluttered screen and clear precise navigation and help. Quotes can be obtained in a matter of minutes. A good feature is the ability to recall a quote for up to thirty days and to be able to make changes to covers while still within the process and at a later date.

Overall we found this a very simple to use site which delivers on promise. The site is of particularly good value for cover to cars in the small to meduium sized range and insurance rating groups.


Elephant Car Insurance Policy Benefits include:
Elephant cover offers free European cover included with all car insurance policies
Free windscreen cover included with all fully comprehensive policies
Free courtesy car when you use one of our approved repairers
Flexible payment options
Legal Expenses protection cover of up to GBP100,000 is provided as standard with no extra costs!



Get an Elephant Car Insurance quote or read more Elephant car insurance policy information


Even Cheaper Car Insurance

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Be Wiser Car Insurance Review

Be Wiser is a very easy site to use with audio help throughout for drivers with reading difficulties.



The overall layout and functionality of the site is modern and easy to use from a consumer point of view, with clearly stated navigation and quotation systems for each product.
Online help is available at all stages of the car insurance quotation process, which follows the standard form data collection method and returns quotes in a reasonable time.

The car insurance quotation system offers a range of quotes from 28 different car insurers, some of whom offer specialist and classic car insurance policies:


* ABC Insurance
* Advantage Insurance
* Highway Insurance
* AIG UK Limited
* Allianz Insurance
* AXA Insurance
* Brit Insurance
* Broker Direct
* Chaucer Insurance
* Equity Insurance Group
* Europa Group
* Fortis Insurance
* Groupama Group
* HSBC
* KGM Insurance
* Link Insurance
* Markerstudy Insurance Company
* MMA Insurance
* NIG
* Norwich Union
* Premier Underwriting
* Prestige Underwriting
* Provident Insurance
* Regency
* Royal And Sun Alliance
* Sabre Insurance Company
* Service
* Zenith
* Zurich Insurance
* Cornhill Insurance
* Doric Insurance

Be Wiser have selected car insurers that they consider to be the best in their respective fields. Theye are confident that they are able to offer all our clients the right policy to meet their needs at the right price.



Policy Features
These vary with individual features from the underwriting companies, however, all policies come with free legal protection service and free RAC breakdown on all motor policies
Instant cover is available live online and payments by instalments is available for all car insurance policies.


Car Insurance and Cheap Car Insurance

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