Several major insurers have attacked a new comparison site for allegedly using their branding without permission.
The site, Compareinsurance.com.au, claimed to provide "quotes from Australia's top insurers" under its car cover section, but this was amended after Insurancenews.com.au noted that the these were more like reviews than quotes. The website lists a number of brands owned by insurers such as Suncorp, IAG and Allianz; it is an authorised representative of financial services licensee CoverDirect, which shares directors and shareholders with travel insurers 1Cover, i-Trek, Kango Cover, Ski-Insurance and Under30, all authorised representatives of Allianz Global Assistance.
Suncorp Personal Insurance CEO Mark Milliner told Insurancenews.com.au that the company's branding was used without permission and requested immediate removal. IAG Senior Corporate Affairs Manager Paul Marriage said that comparison sites do not provide consumers with enough to make informed decisions and will take immediate action if branding has been used without permission. Allianz Australia GM Corporate Affairs Nicholas Scofield says Allianz Global Assistance operates as a separate business unit.
"As far as Allianz Australia is concerned, we are not cooperating with this website in anyway," he told Insurancenews.com.au. "We feel these sites can be misleading and we have not given them permission to use our logo.
"You would get the impression that this site has a connection wtih a number of different brands, but when details were entered only three brands came back, and all were linked to the same underwriter, Auto & General.
"It could give the impression that major insurers are not interested in insuring the customer at all, when in fact this is entirely untrue. They shouldn't be giving the impression brands are being compared when they are not."
Digital Marketing Excutive Natalie Smith says Compareinsurance.com.au does not mention quote comparisons in the website's reviews section and the branding for Suncorp and other companies will not be removed.
"Deliberately not allowing reviews or comments for certain insurers would not only diminish the service we are providing, but we suspect the AUstralian Competition and Consumer Commision and ASIC [would] have a problem with us filtering like that," she told Insurancenews.com.au.
"Insurance New recently published an article whereby Suncorp and IAG noted their concern that comparisons focus on price over service and do not consider claims experience. The reviews section of the site does exactly that: it is a public forum for customers to share their service experiences and is open to comment."