At first glance, getting a single insurance price to compare across websites might seem straightforward. After all, a drop-down is just a drop-down, and a price is just a number. But the reality is far more nuanced. Beneath the surface lies a web of complexity that demands professional expertise to unravel.
Every Website is Different
The first challenge is that no two websites ask questions in quite the same way. Each has its own language and structure:
- Occupation might be listed as “Homemaker” on one site and “Housewife/Househusband” on another.
- One provider might want to know where a car is parked during the day; another may not ask at all.
- Even the way security is captured differs, one site will ask about door locks in detail, another may gloss over it entirely.
To the consumer these may feel like minor differences. But when you are building a comparison, these small shifts matter enormously. What looks like the same question can carry very different meanings behind the scenes.
What Are We Comparing?
The second challenge is deciding what the comparison is meant to achieve. Are we presenting a true comparison of price, or reflecting exactly what the consumer sees?
It sounds academic, but the distinction has real consequences. Tests often reveal different outcomes in the back-end data, which can be misinterpreted as reporting errors. Yet in truth, the differences stem from the journeys themselves.
Enrichment assumptions, such as car value or rebuild cost, can vary dramatically between sites, changing the resulting premium. Two paths may look identical at the start but diverge along the way, producing different answers. And unless you know how to account for this, the numbers can be misleading.
The Professional Approach
This is why a professional process is essential. At Consumer Intelligence, every website’s “question set” is carefully mapped against our own “risk set.”
All these rules live in a comprehensive Wiki, a living encyclopaedia that documents every question, every answer, and how it connects to the risk framework. It’s one of the most intricate and important, parts of our work.
The mapping is painstaking. Each drop-down menu, each possible combination is reviewed and coded. Even driving convictions, which only apply to a fraction of risks, need their own detailed mapping. Without it, the chain breaks.
And once the mapping exists, it has to be constantly monitored. The moment a site changes “Housewife/Husband” to “Homemaker,” the system must adapt. Otherwise the comparison falls apart.
Why This Isn’t Simple or Cheap
The Wiki is not just a technical tool; it is the backbone of consistency. Maintaining it is complex, labour-intensive, and requires continual vigilance. And yet without it, a fair comparison would be impossible.
This is why professional comparison is so valuable. What looks like a single, simple price is actually the product of countless translations, checks, and recalibrations. The complexity cannot be wished away, it has to be managed with care, skill, and investment.
Consistency across websites is not easy. It is not cheap. But done properly, it provides the foundation that allows insurers, regulators, and consumers alike to trust the numbers they see.
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