Norwich Union, the UK's largest insurer has followed in the footsteps of competitor, Direct Line and removed itself from price comparison websites. Instead the insurer has lauched a web and phone service that gives customers it own prices and products and that of its rivals – even if they’re cheaper, it claims. David Tyers, director of marketing at Norwich Union, said, “The truth is no insurer is cheapest all of the time; the difference is we will tell customers when we are and when we are not. But clearly we hope that we will be competitive for many customers and we know, as a package, our motor insurance represents great value and people will choose to buy from us.”

There are three levels of basic checks. On the Norwich Union homepage and the car insurance landing page, customers will first see examples of quotes given by Norwich Union and three others from a range of competitors. The so-called price checker changes every five seconds and shows recent examples of independently-shopped car quotes. 

Then, as customers are filling in their motor details on the car insurance quote page, a box will appear giving an example price that 'someone like them' has received recently from Norwich Union - and up to four other competitors.
 
The prices shown are for comprehensive car insurance based on the closest match for the customer’s gender, age, geography and car type. According to Norwich Union, all prices have been recently researched and are an illustration of what someone will pay, not the exact price.

Once a customer has filled in all their details and has received a quote from Norwich Union they will be offered the chance to check its final price against other motor insurance providers. They will also be able to check competitors’ cover details such as excess, courtesy car and legal services as well as up to 30 other features if they want to.
 
But the comparison services are not impressed. Peter Ablett, commercial director at Confused.com  says: "We were surprised when we heard that Norwich Union had decided to stop using comparison sites. For consumers, comparison sites offer a really quick, easy way of comparing prices across a broad range of insurers and saving money.  Unfortunately, for some insurers, this transparency can highlight uncompetitive quotes or policy cover. 

"Norwich Union may be offering competitive quotes and service to consumers, but by removing themselves from comparison sites, they are limiting the consumers’ ability to see for themselves."

Hayley Parsons, Chief Executive at Gocompare.com, added that consumers are unlikely to be 'quoted happy' by Norwich Union’s new price check service. "In the main, consumers won’t be disadvantaged by Norwich Union’s withdrawal from comparison sites. The reality is they have struggled to keep their premiums competitive and, unfortunately for them, there’s now nowhere to hide for their existing products.

"While we respect their decision, we would urge consumers to be extremely wary of their new price checking service, launched this week. This is not a comparison service and I hope consumers aren’t drawn in by suggestions that it compares anything of much value at all.

"When you eventually get a genuine quote for a Norwich Union policy you are given the opportunity to compare it against three insurance companies, out of a possible list of nine. This list gives the consumer no indication which of these companies are the best three to compare against, or even if the nine choices they are presented with give them any hope of finding a cheaper quote."

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Check out Norwich Unions's price checker here

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