Today is a very exciting day in the Drew household – our new car arrives! We have survived months of lockdown without a car (the old one was collected and lockdown put a stop to the new one being delivered) and I have felt so trapped. The excitement is overwhelming! Before the new car gets here I had one more admin job to tick off – buying car insurance. Let me tell you, this one, quick 15 minute job has me so mad that I am writing a blog post about it straight away. I am going to say it – cashback on your car insurance is a SCAM! Let’s delve into this car insurance cashback scam.
I’m a good money blogger, and I know that running a quick price comparison on car insurance can save me hundreds of pounds. I’ve seen the adverts on tv – I know to visit Money Supermarket, GoCompare or Compare The Market. That is exactly what I did last week, and the cheapest quote was for £297.92 with Admiral. Perfect!
This morning, just about to buy my car insurance I thought ‘hang on a minute…let’s get some cashback’.
Off to Quidco I went.
And I wasn’t disappointed.
Wow – £31.50 cashback from Quidco when I buy my car insurance through MoneySuperMarket. Perfect – I already had a quote from MoneySuperMarket that I was happy with.
Brilliant!
There was only one thing…I had to get a new quote from MoneySuperMarket to get the cashback.
For £31.50 I could do that.
But…wait a moment. Here is my new insurance quote (on the right).
Spot anything?
The exact same insurance providers, through the Quidco cashback link are now over £70 more expensive! For my £31.50 cashback.
After cashback they are still over £40 more expensive.
This is EXACTLY the same quote. The same start date. The same device. The same browser. Done at the same time!
The car insurance cashback scam
I had noticed this before when getting quotes for holidays and insurances through cashback websites, but I had never taken any screenshots as proof.
Now I finally had the proof I needed!
I started looking around the internet to see if anyone else had similar experiences.
I found this post on the Money Saving Expert forums from a user, although in this case the insurance worked out to be the same cost.
When to use cashback sites for car insurance quotes
It is still worth checking cashback sites like Quidco and TopCashback for your car insurance quotes.
For example, you can earn free Topcashback money for getting car insurance quotes!
Just be sure to also get quotes for your car insurance without going through a cashback website, in incognito mode.
How to save money on car insurance
Car insurance is one of those expenses that car owners have to endure, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t get a good deal!
Did you know that you can get FREE motor legal cover for life? This costs around £30 per year, so could save you hundreds over your driving career.
If you can afford to then pay for your insurance annually instead of monthly – this will save you the credit charge.
Run a price comparison – it takes just a few minutes and could save you hundreds of pounds.
