Online car insurers driving away customers

Car insurance companies could be driving online customers away by making it too difficult for them to obtain quotes via the web.

According to research by online usability consultancy, Webcredible, the quote process is often difficult, forms are ambiguous and sites lack clear information for customers to follow.

Twenty UK insurers were given a mark out of 100 for usability after being rated against 20 different criteria in Webcredible's Online Motor Insurance Usability Report.

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The top performer in the research was Quin Direct, with 76 points, followed by the AA and Hastings Direct (both 69).

These sites were said to have easy to follow processes, consistent formatting and clear instructions for use.

Only half of companies achieved scores of more than 55.

Big names to score less than 55 points included Endsleigh and The Post Office (both 43).

Issues singled out as putting customers off include the failure to inform customers how long the quote process will take and what information they are likely to need to complete forms.

Other issues include telephone numbers not being clearly displayed - putting off those customers that prefer to pay offline - and a lack of help when errors were encountered.

Webcredible managing director, Trenton Moss, said if companies make more effort to design their websites around the needs of customers they could reap significant rewards.