Platform querying several rating engines from a single questionnaire and ranking offers, a channel that has become dominant in motor insurance in several European markets.
A comparison site transforms a market's competitive structure, not merely its distribution channel. By making price immediately comparable at near-identical cover, it moves competition toward the headline price and makes a premium above the median on an identical segment unsustainable, which accelerates rating segmentation and model sophistication. It has three documented effects on claims and profitability. The book acquired through this channel is more volatile, the customer comparing again at every renewal, so acquisition cost amortizes over fewer years. It attracts a more price-sensitive clientele whose risk profile differs at identical observable characteristics. And it encourages price walking, entering low then raising in later years, a practice several supervisors ended up banning. The comparison site's business model is an introduction commission paid by the insurer, which raises a transparency question: the displayed ranking does not depend on price alone, and the customer does not always know it.
The British conduct authority banned price walking in motor and home insurance from January 1, 2022, by requiring that the renewal price offered to a customer not exceed the price offered to an equivalent new customer. The measure directly targeted the model born of online comparison, where the headline price was financed by the following years.
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