photo credit: katerha
Think back around 5 years, can you remember the feeling of satisfaction that you could search for the best deal on something like car insurance by visiting a single site and not phoning round a number of brokers?
Comparison sites had burst onto the scene promising a simple solution to a number of rather dull tasks, but if we move forward a few years, it seems that our love for these sites is waning, as competition in the comparison market has increased.
A recent survey by group buying community website Incahoot shows the level of dissatisfaction there now is towards comparison sites amongst consumers.
Despite price comparison sites’ claims they will save consumers money by showing them the cheapest deals, half of consumers (47%) think price comparison sites don’t offer the best deals in the market.
And while many price comparison sites imply they show all deals currently available, a staggering 89% of consumers don’t trust them to pick up all the offers that would suit their needs.
It’s not just price comparison sites’ inability to save them money that has irked consumers. More than a third (37%) voiced disappointment with the results and service they received from such sites in the past. In fact, a third of people (29%) don’t use price comparison sites at all. Again, failing to offer the best deals or the best insurance cover were cited as reasons, but nearly one in 10 (8%) said they had never used price comparison sites because they found them simply too difficult to use.
The survey also doesn’t even mention the fact that all these sites seem to insist on extremely annoying advertising. CompareTheMarket’s meerkat ads were originally a clever way of getting brand awareness in a busy market, but they’ve probably overdone the meerkat now and seem to have driven the other sites to creating their own naff ads.
What do you think, has your opinion of comparison sites changed, and if so, why? Let us know in the comments below.
Searching for car insurance on comparison sites, although it may produce results, can also be such a pain, the screen scraping is ineffective, and then you have to have give all your details again, then end up paying more. They never seem to be straight forward, but do save time.
I was recently searching for travel insurance and looked at moneysupermarket . One company was offering a years policy for £136 on there . When I went to the insurer’s own site I found I could get the same cover for £93 .In future I will be doing my own research and not relying on these sites to find the best deal
I think we have. However the main concern I have is that Google are buying up a number of niche comparison sites and I think this needs to be monitored closely. I know one of the main price comparison sites have written a public letter to google about this but we need to ensure that the web stays independent so that consumers get a fair deal. I am sure G will play by the book but it does concern me and it appears I am not the only one.
Price comparison sites are actually the time saver as they do compare a lot of things which we miss out normally while shopping. Searching for travel deals is the best useful part.
Price comparison sites can play a part in finding the best price for a product but agree that they should be used in conjuction with other methods to find the best price. For example, when looking for the lowest hotel rates, try using a price comparison site but before making a booking ring or visit the official web site of the hotel directly and see if you can negotiate a better deal. Also check the many daily deal sites that often offer huge discounts – maybe they have an offer on what you look for.