One of Britain’s leading price comparison websites, MoneySupermarket, has become the first company to launch a car insurance comparison app which is available to all iPhone and iPad owners.
Developed in association with the award winning digital communications firm MIG (Mobile Interactive Group), the app aims to make the arduous process of searching for car insurance less time consuming; even allowing users to retrieve quotes while on the move.
MoneySupermarket’s Julie Fisher is predicting that this will mark the start of a new era for the insurance industry; which is to become both faster and easier to navigate for consumers.
Personal details
Just like when you are retrieving insurance quotes online; app users will firstly be required to enter personal details which will be used to calculate premiums. Insurance companies will take account of the statistical likelihood of people of a certain gender or age, or even in a particular line of employment being involved in road accidents and making claims which the insurance company would be forced to fork out for. It is therefore vitally important that you make sure that the information that is entered here is completely accurate or you will risk rendering your policy void.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimates that the average motorist would save 30% on their insurance premiums if they were to deals available through at least five insurance companies. However, more often than not motorists simply accept the renewal price which is offered to them by their current insurer. Once of the primary reasons attributed to this decision is the time and effort which is required to enter in these kind of details.
With the MoneySupermarket app, these details only need to be entered once upon downloading it. The details will then be saved; making the process of retrieving quotes much faster and more convenient in the future.
Vehicle information
Inputting the information which is required about the vehicle which you are looking to be insured on is perhaps the coolest feature of the app. Users need simply take a photograph of the registration plate on the vehicle.
The app will then automatically retrieve the required information from the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) database, discerning the vehicle make and model, its age, performance and security levels and the insurance group rating which it has been assigned. The purpose of all of this is once again in order to determine the statistical likelihood of a claim being made.
It is still recommended that you check that these details are accurate and add in information about any modifications which may have been made to the car. Although this is commonly an area of contention, a modification is defined as any change which is made to the vehicle which results in it deviating from its original manufacturer specifications.
Purchasing insurance
The app will then display quotes on offer through over 100 different UK based car insurance companies; all of whom are featured on the MoneySupermarket website. Each of these quotes will have two buttons alongside them; one is called ‘click to call’ and the other is called ‘purchase’.
Literally at the click of a button, users can utilise the ‘click to call’ button to contact insurers telephonically in order to make enquiries about specific details of the policy; for instance, whether or not breakdown cover is included. Users may also prefer to utilise this function to arrange for the cover to be actions over the phone by dealing with one of the insurance companies dedicated call centre operatives rather than paying for the cover using the app.
However, this feature is available to those who desire it; with the ‘purchase’ button allowing users to arrange for the cover to be put in place in just a matter of moments upon a valid credit/debit card being entered.
Where can I get it?
UK based consumers can download the app for free from either the MoneySupermarket.com website or iTunes.
It is expected that other companies will follow suit in the coming months, with MoneySupermarket.com’s UK based rival confused.com believed to be working on a similar solution for launch in 2012.
Whether or not similar apps will be made available to those outside of the United Kingdom remains to be seen, but it is a very strong possibility.