Admiral, Allianz Cornhill, Autodirect, Aviva (formally CGNU), Avon, Axa, Axa Direct, Bell, BDML, Budget, Chaucer, Corinthian, Cornhill, Doric, Diamond, Direct Choice, Endsleigh, Ensign, Equity Red Star, Folgate, Fortis, Groupama, Hastings, Heath Lambert, Highway, Home & Legacy, Insurance Now, Insure your motor, Its 4 Me, Ladybird, Legal and General, Link, MMA, More Than, NIG, Norwich Union Direct, Peoples Choice, Planet, Provident, Quinn, Quote-a-car, RAC, Regency, Royal and Sun Alliance, Sabre, Service, Swinton, UGM, Wren, Zenith and Zurich

Hang on. How many insurance companies are there?

A lot of people think there are literally hundreds of insurance companies. But it may surprise you to know that while there are hundreds of companies selling insurance there are actually only 30 home insurance and 34 motor insurance companies, that is the company that actually underwrites the policy.

Insurers are split between companies like Admiral and Direct Line who sell direct to the public and companies like Royal Sun Alliance and CGNU who sell direct and through brokers. There are also Lloyds syndicates who can also sell direct and through brokers. The difference is that when you contact a direct company you are dealing with the actual motor insurance underwriter, whereas a broker will have a panel of companies to choose from.

Brokers typically access around 50-60% of available underwriters and depending on their speciality, their size or muscle in the market can drive discounted rates or schemes from their underlying panel of insurers. Its important to remember that some companies like Direct Line or Admiral don't offer their rates to brokers at all. To get a quote from these companies you have to go to their site or call them direct.

The insurance-buying public don't necessarily understand all this but what they really want is to give their details once and do a true price comparison across all the insurance providers to find the best deal that suits them.

To ensure that we cover as much of the market as possible we have targeted a mix of direct companies and broker sites. This means that we are able to reach more companies - 94% for car insurance. To get a true price comparison you would have to select a number of brokers who are likely to have driven good deals with the insurers and the main direct insurance companies. We do all that on one site.