The average motorist has seen their car insurance bill rise by 40% over the past couple of years according to the AA. Various different reasons have been attributed to this, ranging from the crash of the financial markets to the rise in the number of fraudulent claims being made by motorists; but no one seems to have made affirmative action to address this developing problem.
However, all of this is about to change with MoneySupermarket.com launching the world’s first car insurance price comparison app for all iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad owners. Built by awarding winning digital mobile communications firm MIG (Mobile Interactive Group) the app compares deals available through all of the car insurance companies which are compared by the MoneySupermarket price comparison service; over 100 providers in total.
The app is now available for download completely free of charge from either the MoneySupermarket website or iTunes. Once it has been downloaded users will be required to create a MoneySupermarket user account if they do not already have one set up which will contain personal details about the motorist which will be relevant in the calculation of car insurance premiums. This is generally the most time consuming aspect of the car insurance search and often puts people off taking the time to compare deals through alternative providers despite the fact that research by the ABI (Association of British Insurers) showed that the average motorist stands to reduce their car insurance bill by 30% by comparing deals with at least five different providers. However, the advantage of creating a MoneySupermarket user account is that this process need only be completed on one occasion rather than every single time that a quote is required, making it far easier to enjoy the potential savings which come with the utilisation of comparison websites.
Entering information about vehicles has also been made far easier thanks to a nifty little feature of the app. Users need only take a photograph of the vehicle registration plate and the app will then automatically retrieve any information which is stored about the vehicle by the DVLA which will be required in order for car insurance quotes to be calculated. This also removed the potential for human errors when information is being entered, such as possible confusion over the model which is being compared (i.e. Ford Fiesta Zetec or Ford Fiesta Style).
Once both of these data sets have been entered the app will retrieve a range of quotes from all of the insurers that are featured on the MoneySupermarket website. Users will be able to save these retrieved quotes for future reference which also has the additional benefit of allowing users to compare the kind of deals that would be available to them on a variety of different vehicles if they happen to be struggling to make a new car choice.
The app is currently only usable for UK based motorists, but the company believes that other comparison companies will follow their lead by producing similar apps over the course of 2012; potentially also in rival markets.
