Insurance in the UK – Trends for 2011 and Beyond

It is without doubt that since the arrival of the Broadband powered internet, insurance in the UK has undergone a transformation.

Indeed, over the last decade, insurance in the UK has changed so dramatically that it would be hard to recognise it from the turn of the century. During the last ten years the power dynamic has changed from the individual insurance, to the comparison websites. 

The fact that people can shop online for what was once a complicated procedure has been a major step forward and one initially embraced by the top insurance companies. You can now buy car and home insurance much like buying your groceries; from digital shelves offering all manner of polices and options.

But the big question for 2011, and indeed the new decade, is will the comparison websites continue to dominate, or will the individual companies begin to hit back? It’s well known that one of the major players in the insurance business does not work with the comparison websites and another leading insurance company has made the same decision.

This is likely to continue throughout 2011 as the companies that can afford major marketing budgets (and that roughly means television time) feel that they don’t have to compete on price alone in the ‘bear pit’ that comparison websites offer.

The problem with comparison websites is although they offer choice in terms of price, they can only really accommodate the middle mass market; if users don’t fit within the Mr and Mrs criteria, they can find such sites severely lacking.

So insurance in the UK for 2011 – look for increasing diminution of the vice-like grip of the comparison websites?