The following is a guest article by Michael Challiner. Michael is a journalist specialising in Personal Finance topics.
You'll find the cheapest prices for life insurance on the Internet. But are there hidden complications and does low price come at the expense of quality? The author of this article, Michael Challiner, explains how it is done and concludes that buying online is a good idea.
The arrival of the internet has opened the possibility of cheaper life insurance for all.
In years gone by, if you were considering life insurance you would probably have invited an insurance salesman from your favourite insurance company to meet you or gone to your local insurance broker. But rarely would you have been brave enough to get competitive quotations. It just wasn't done. You trusted the salesman to do the best for you and surely you thought, life insurance is technical and requires specialised knowledge. All very cosy.
All very expensive. How life has changed!
- People now realise that life insurance is not that complicated
- If on a scale of 1 to 10, buying car insurance online rates 9, life insurance must be a 7 or 8
- This has opened up the Internet as a prime arena for cut-price life insurance
- That's not to imply that life policies bought on the Internet are in any way substandard. No, you're most likely to end up with a policy from one of the UK's big insurers like Norwich Union or Legal & General and they'll be the same policies as you could buy anywhere else
- It's just the intense competition on the internet and efficiency and simplicity of the system, means that most online brokers decide to cut the commission and roll back the savings into lower prices
Ah yes I hear you saying, 7 or 8 implies that life insurance 'is' more complicated than car insurance. Yes it is - but that doesn't mean that it represents a problem. The companies selling life insurance online recognise that many clients feel that some level of personal advice is useful and indeed, necessary.
They accommodate this with a mix of useful information on the web site and more often than not, with a short telephone conversation with a life insurance adviser before buying. This provides reassurance and helps to ensure you do get the policy choices you need all at rock-bottom prices.
Buying life insurance online is therefore certainly a good idea - List of Life Insurance providers
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