Looking for a good quote?

Online Oracle

Insurancewide is Freeserve's insurance channel, providing quotes from a panel of lenders.

Insurancewide is Freeserve's insurance channel, providing quotes from a panel of lenders.

What's the address?

www.insurancewide.com

What's available?

Motor, home and travel cover. Life assurance, car rescue and policies for small firms and sole traders are also available.

User friendliness

The site is clearly laid out and easy to navigate. However, inputting the information to get a quote could be made easier. For example, you need to give details of your profession when requesting a quote for home insurance. There is a search button that should give lists of occupations to help you choose the correct format, but this didn't work. It would also be helpful to know whether you need £ signs or commas when inputting values. These may be minor points, but it's annoying when you think you've completed a page to find you have filled something in incorrectly.

Positive aspects

A lot of online broker sites do not tell you the exclusions on a policy until after you've been given a quote. This site lists them at the start, so you don't waste time giving all your details only to find you can't get cover. For example, one of the requirements for car insurance is that you have at least one year's no-claims bonus.

There is a lot of helpful information in the "tell me more" sections. Subjects covered include travelling while pregnant and insuring a property that you are letting out.

There's a wide range of products for companies, including office insurance, employer and business liability cover, and business travel.

Once you've got a quote, you can save the details while you shop around, and then retrieve it if it's the most competitive.

Overall impression

This site is worth visiting. The quote I got for house insurance was very competitive, although the motor quote wasn't.

This illustrates that you do need to get a few quotes from different insurance providers or brokers. Just because a broker site provides the best deal for one person, it doesn't mean it will offer the best deals for everyone.