Aggregators refuse to sign up to new quality badge scheme
Major price comparison websites have snubbed the Comparison Consortium (Coco) code of conduct that would insist on accurate price quotes instead of estimates, the Guardian reports.
Coco’s badge of approval would mean
- accurate price quotes instead of estimates
- a clear complaints policy
- transparent information
- lawful use of users' personal data
- Site information must be "fair, clear and not misleading"
Confused.com
"We won't be joining: it's a place for the smaller websites to come together and it's not something that we're going with," said Carlton Hood, the chief executive of Confused.com.
"We'd rather be working together to resolve the 'excess' issue [where high default excesses can lead insurance policies to appear artificially cheap], and are now doing so with the Association of British Insurers."
GoCompare
uSwitch and Gocompare, have also cold-shouldered the code, and Moneysupermarket - the biggest of the sites - has yet to sign.
"We're not jumping in as we're regulated well enough; we'd want to see genuine new benefits to consumers," says a spokesman for Gocompare. Even Tescocompare, whose managing director Debra Williams sits on the new body's committee, has yet to sign up.
No transparency
The Guardian is critical that the code does not highlight transparency over how the sites get paid. It said fees paid for introducing customers to insurers vary wildly and are understood to range from 30p to £2.
