Buying insurance online brings discounts
New research indicates that a growing number of Britons are both researching and buying their insurance policies online. The numbers mirror a growing reliance on the internet to purchase flights and vacation packages.
According to Nielsen Online, one in four Britons booked a flight online in the last three months. The study was conducted in order to discover how the internet has changed the shopping habits of the average consumer. Airline tickets, according to the survey results, were the fourth most purchased item for internet shoppers.
Jonathan Carson of Nielsen online commented: "Whilst certain areas of the travel industry were initially slow to utilise the benefits of the internet, it is now one of the undoubted success stories of online, playing an integral part in the arrangements and experience of today's traveller.”
The wealth of information available on the internet has contributed to the popularity of online bookings and has also influenced the way travellers are booking their travel insurance
One consumer group recently estimated that the average consumer can save as much as 25 per cent by using the internet to compare prices and shop around for an insurance policy before buying.
According to Which? Money, many individual insurers offer incentives for customers to buy over the internet rather than by phone. The Post Office, for example, offers a discount of 17 per cent to those applying online rather than by telephone.
Many people surveyed (78 per cent) said they used the internet to buy insurance because it was quick and convenient, but doing so can also bring substantial savings to consumers. Two thirds of respondents said they used the internet to buy insurance in order to compare deals from various providers.
Editor of Which? Money, Martyn Hocking, said: "As well as being quick and easy, there are big savings to be had buying insurance online.
"Don't just automatically head for your usual insurer's website, though - try others, too, to make sure you get the best deal.
"Comparison sites can be useful, but they don't compare every insurer in the market, so visit two or three and get separate quotes from companies that don't appear on them."
Yasmin Purnell Editorial
14/02/2008
Check out our Travel News section for a full archive of news articles.
