12 MARCH 2007

7 in 10 Struggle to Compare Travel Insurance | Cheap Car Insurance and Home Insurance from Confused.com

Confused.com has today launched its new travel insurance search engine to follow in the footsteps of its market-leading car equivalent. Free to use, the service instantaneously compares the price and level of cover of a variety of policies on one simple screen. The service will be a godsend for those 70% of consumers who, according to latest research*, find it either difficult or impossible to compare travel insurance cover.

Despite the fact that nearly 60% of people believe travel insurance policies differ greatly and 66% go away more than once a year, many find the process of buying and handling travel insurance both baffling and time consuming. Nearly half of those polled did not understand basic terms such as 'waiving excess' and a third had failed to make a claim on their travel insurance, with 52% of these considering it to be 'too much hassle'.

The new service currently returns instant, real-time quotes from 15 of the UK's top travel insurance brands (expected to be 20 by May 2007). Given that almost 60% of people admit to comparing three travel insurance policies or less before purchasing, the new comparison service is expected to be widely welcomed.

Confused.com's offering enables users to compare single trip and annual policies according to price, medical expenses limit, insurance excess, value of baggage covered and maximum payout for holiday cancellation.

It allows consumers to see at a glance which policy offers best value for money and there are huge savings to be made for the three quarters of people who fail to utilise online resources to compare costs quickly and easily.

Debra Williams, Managing Director at Confused.com says: 'Our research has shown that 37% of people always book their insurance at the last minute, so it is hardly surprising that so few people bother to search for appropriate cover. It is precisely because of this trend that we expect our new travel insurance search engine to capture the imagination of travellers as it's free, instantaneous and enables users to find the best policy and most appropriate cover.'



Notes to Editors:

The 15 insurance providers on Confused.com's travel panel are:
1. 1 STOP TRAVEL
2. ETRAVEL INSURANCE
3. GO TRAVEL
4. DEBENHAMS TRAVEL
5. AA TRAVEL
6. STAY SURE
7. SWIFT COVER
8. M&S
9. MORE THAN
10. SWINTON
11. ENDSLEIGH
12. TRAVEL PLAN ONLINE
13. DRAKEFIELD PHONE SALES
14. NORWICH UNION/AVIVA
15. INSURE & GO

*Research of 495 people conducted by Confused.com via an online survey

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