back to article Google creeps up on another sector: Adds car insurance to Compare

Google has added car insurance to its "Google Compare" suite of products, which are "designed to help people make confident, more informed financial decisions." Insurance providers have been told by the Chocolate Factory that "people searching for car insurance on their phone or computer can find you along with an apples-to- …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Presumably Google has gone away

    and done all the work they were told they would need to do to enter the UK financial services market when I met with them in 2009 ?

    Or have the last 6 years seen Google hoping if they stay *very* quiet, no one will remember ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Presumably Google has gone away

      what a tease

    2. tmagic

      Re: Presumably Google has gone away

      I doubt that they are entering the financial services, just sounds like they are going to be an introducer.

      So (to begin with at least) they'll be competing with comparison sites rather than insurers.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The fool and his money will soon be parted

    This is one sector where (at least in the UK) you should be extremely careful when judging based on price alone.

    The price comparison does not include the small print and the small print on some of the "cheap" ones is atrocious. There are also scumbags that specifically aim at people who do not have excellent command of written English legalese (this is not limited to foreigners, they try to nail English speakers too). For example I know 3 people who have taken the cheapest from a comparison site, after that cancelled insurance on another vehicle because it is sold, scrapped, exported (or whatever other reason). Then they have an accident on their primary vehicle and are refused insurance because they "falsely answered the question of 'Have you had your insurance cancelled or refused for any reason'"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The fool and his money will soon be parted

      That question usually has a specific meaning, and that is not it! Sounds like your friends should have taken it to the Ombudsman.

  3. DragonLord

    I'm assuming that given what's going on in the EU this will be a US only offering until the anti trust investigation goes away.

  4. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Alien

    World Enterprises Corporation, anyone?

    The search engine that fell to earth.

  5. AIBailey
    Joke

    Clash of mascots?

    Confused.com have a robot on their adverts these days. Let's hope that Google don't decide to use some kind of robot as a mascot for any of their products, else that could get embarrassing.

  6. Erik4872

    Yay for automation - oh wait, no one can buy our policies anymore!

    I guess this is going to add another few thousand people to the "now unemployable" pile. Who needs those expensive insurance brokers? I know I sound like a Luddite, but I really don't see a future that looks good for anyone employed in a service sector job based on obtaining and sharing information. Hopefully we'll skip the bloody revolutions and just install suicide booths a la Futurama or go the Soylent Green route.

    One thing that people should think of when buying insurance is the likelihood that they will have a good experience should they need to use it. Most people either never use their car insurance or get the occasional bumper fixed. The question is, does the cut rate company pay out when a serious accident or any sort of legal gray area arises in your contract? What happens when that $1000 body shop bill becomes $750K in medical expenses, long term care, and millions in personal injury lawsuits? Lots of homeowners whose houses burn down tell stories about how their insurance companies took years to pay off on fires that were ruled accidental.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yay for automation - oh wait, no one can buy our policies anymore!

      Insurance *brokers* are specialist providers of insurance advice and products, and work to ensure coplex insurance needs are met satisfactorily. I suspect this move will not really unsettle them too much.

      People who work in call centres flogging insurance add-ons, who think they work in insurance might be in for a shock.

    2. Intractable Potsherd

      Re: Yay for automation - oh wait, no one can buy our policies anymore!

      I'll move away from using an insurance broker at about the same time David Cameron becomes a member of the Scottish Socialist Party. Being able to talk through requirements with a knowledgeable, friendly person who doesn't have a script is worth the (trivial) amount extra it might cost me. I did spend a few years doing the online comparison bit, but eventually realised that it was too loaded with risk unless every clause was checked for "insurance company honesty" - which would be a lie if it worked the other way around.

  7. BobRocket

    Uber Insurance

    Why do I have to 'compare the market' of differing products that might or might not fit my requirements ?

    I post my requirements and insurers bid for the business.

    Simples.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Uber Insurance

      There was actually a real-life website that allowed you to do this a few years ago. Fascinating business model. You entered your details, and got back your automated quotes. But you could then choose to submit those details to a panel of brokers to see if they could get a lower quote.

      Not much use for vanilla quotes, but if you had a conviction or two, then there could be considerable savings ... bloke I worked with (a drunk in the "Skunks 'n' drunks" category) managed to save a few quid this way

      (racks memory and google)

      ah, yes "Cheapercover.com". The fact it disappeared without a trace suggests it didn't catch on.

  8. Fan of Mr. Obvious

    Massive data collection for a massive industry

    I think, for today, this more about data collection than it is making money by selling leads. Today Google will collect info about the potential customer - not sure how much info you give up in the UK, but in the US the prospective insurer gets your credit profile, driving history, household members (names, DOB, gender), current and past vehicles, and claims history. This in itself is worth the technology investment, especially if the competing carriers pay for the report data (which they will). Over time, Google will take that data along with the rates that other carriers have given for the profiles and develop a model where they will be extremely accurate when rating you (for their insurance or another carrier) the next time they see you for a quote. If they ultimately decide that they do not want to sell insurance, they will license the data to carriers who are unsuccessful at protecting themselves against adverse selection. Package the standard insurance data (mentioned above) with personal behavior analytic (the lifestyle profile Google already assembles on people) and they have something very powerful to offer a gazillion dollar industry. Bottom line, I do not think Google is interested in taking on the headaches of being an insurance carrier. I think they want to be the analytic engine for all carriers.

  9. thomas k.

    tried this last night

    Top (meaning cheapest) three picks would save me from $650 (1 & 2) to $350 (3) over my present coverage. All three, however, receive 1 star ratings on on-line rating sites, their customers uniformly relating one horror story after another in a seeming endless litany.

    My current carrier, on the other hand, received an 89.7% overall customer satisfaction rating for 2014. The one time I needed it, in fact, the woman whose car I backed into in a parking lot actually sent me a thank you note, to let me know quickly they had her car repaired and her satisfaction with the result.

  10. Tromos

    Disrupt?

    Google's deployment of driverless cars is likely to disrupt the insurance industry.

    s/dis/bank/

  11. bollos

    driverless cars, we have them already, they're called trains.

    driverless cars are a solution looking for a problem.

    another senseless waste of human activity.

  12. Shades

    Pretty Sure...

    ...Google have been doing this for at least 3 years! Either that or I've imagined getting insurance, multiple times and often cheaper with the same providers searched by GoCompare and CompareTheMarket, through it!

    1. phuzz Silver badge
      Meh

      Re: Pretty Sure...

      I found insurance through them in December and the year before that. Of course, because google know pretty much everything about me already, I didn't have to type in many details.

      Maybe this is just news because they're now doing it in the US?

  13. Ken Hagan Gold badge

    That sub-heading...

    Is it some kind of record to invoke Godwin's law before the first word of the actual article?

  14. Trigonoceps occipitalis

    What about a Comparethecomparisonsite.com?

    See title.

    1. Ken Hagan Gold badge

      Re: What about a Comparethecomparisonsite.com?

      Appears to have been taken last year.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Old News?

    Am I missing something? I got car insurance through Google's comparison site at least in the last year, possibly the year before that too??

  16. tom dial Silver badge
    Joke

    Maybe if the Obama administration had Google do the Healthcare.gov site it would not have been a total mess for the first few months.

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