Who owns the big players in the price comparison market?
Confused.com - Admiral Group who owns brands such as Admiral, Elephant, Diamond, Bell and Gladiator.
Gocompare - set up by a former member of the confused.com team, 49% owned by esure
Comparethemarket.com - is owned by Budget all of the brands quoted are Budget group companies Budget also own Dial Direct, ibuyeco, Quote Mart, and Junction who run the insurance arms of the Post Office, Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, Bradford & Bingley, Homebase and yesinsurance.com. Source adrian flux.
Moneysupermarket.com - have just recently floated and are independent.
How can comparison sites be impartial when they are owned by insurers and can manipulate where insurers appear on the searches. Also advertisement on comparison sites costs tens of millions every year and the cost of which is coming from you then end user. As well as this insurers have to pay to advertise on there and also pay referral and commission to the sites most of the time being paid to themselves! Again this cost is passed back onto you!
Not all insurers are on comparison sites they only have about 80% of the market but as they are so heavily relied upon to "search the market" consumers don't know where to go or how to get the best deal.
Its like having an independent financial advisor who is tied to a particular company and will pitch you that company first as they will get more commission from it!
Martin Lewis moneysavingexpert even was in cahoots with moneysupermarket.com all of his advice for saving money was to get you to take out this best deal he found to save you that money through moneysupermarket meaning he made millions and eventually sold his forum to moneysupermarket.com for £87 million!
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