Insurance Comparison Websites

I love adverts

They have an unusual issue of essentially just being a fancy redirect to other websites passing form information along. As such, they are required to have a "one-size-fits-all" web form to filter onto other websites. Here's what they had to say on the matter.

I would advise to avoid choosing a title that doesn't match your legal sex to avoid potential complications in the event of needing to claim on the insurance. Your mileage may vary and I am not a lawyer. If you are feeling particularly proactive, sign up with the "wrong" gendered option and then ask your insurance company to fix it in the period after signing up and before the cover is active, explaining why. I do that with each insurance company I use, with varying reactions.

Compare the Market

• Product: Car insurance comparison
• Status: Existing customer
• Method: Email
• Date: 17th February 2016 (last checked: 14th July 2020)
• Response (exact wording): "Whilst gender information is no longer used to calculate insurance premiums, our insurer partners do ask us to collect this information to allow them to understand more about their customer demographics. We have recently had conversations about including more information on why we are still required to collect this information from customers given all of the Gender Directive changes, so we will be sure to take your feedback into consideration when making future developments."
• Note from Peter: To avoid specifically asking for gender on the form, Compare the Market assume gender based on the title. As such, there are two entries for "Dr": "Dr - Male" and "Dr - Female".
• Update from Peter: As of 28th June 2018, Compare The Market no longer offer "Dr - Male" or "Dr - Female" as title options, reducing it down to just Mr, Mrs, Ms and Miss. This is a very disappointing change and one I intend to follow up on.

Gocompare.com

• Product: Car insurance comparison
• Status: Existing customer
• Method: Email
• Date: 17th February 2016 (last checked: 14th July 2020)
• Response: Go Compare echo what Compare the Market say, with the added note that "It would be relatively straightforward for Gocompare.com to change our question set to accommodate the wishes of all our customers. However, when this information is passed from Gocompare.com to our partners this information may not be populated as you wished."

As much as I appreciate these responses, there's more these comparison websites can do to help if they really want to. Hey, if any insurance comparison sites are reading this, maybe drum up some publicity by letting people select non-binary gender and then add an icon or something next to the providers that don't require the info, then bring up the question later if the user picks a provider that does require it. Maybe even add a filter to only show providers that respect non-binary gender choices. If the cost difference isn't too much, I'd even consider paying a bit more (I shouldn't need to, but it would save hassle further down the line).