Money Watch – Personal Finance Blog

We asked a while ago whether our love affair with price comparison websites had ended. Whilst me may be a bit more cynical about them and realistic about the savings they can give us, there’s no doubt that they’re still an essential tool for getting the best deal on financial products such as insurance and credit cards, and will continue to be the first port of call for many searchers.

AOL Money has posted some useful tips on how to get the best out of price comparison sites:

• Check what is ticked – comparison sites will “help you along” the quote process by automatically selecting certain options. Try your quotes with and without these options to see what effect they have on the price.
• Beware the cheapest quote – cheap prices on insurance can often hide a large excess or inadequate cover.
• Be suspicious of sponsored links – some deals will be shown to you because they’ve paid to be promoted by the comparison site, they won’t necessarily be appearing at the top of the list because they’re the best option.
• Shop around – different comparison sites feature different providers and insurers, and some companies, such as Direct Line, do not appear on any comparison sites. So you can a better comparison by using a few comparison sites and a few direct providers.
• Protect your details – most comparison sites will pass on your details to third-parties; usually the provider that you’ve chosen to go with, but sometimes your details could be given to companies that you haven’t expressed an interest in. You can always test out the comparison sites with some dummy details if you’re unsure what you’re doing, and use the correct details once you’ve decided which provider to go with.