Money’s nice, isn’t it? It’s just such an enjoyable thing, having digital points you can use up on whatever your heart desires. Want some ice cream? Use your life points! Coffee? That’ll be four life points please my good man.
Given money can be traded for coffee and ice cream, we homo sapiens are inclined to have a fair bit of fondness for it; we like to hold on to it as much as possible. Who doesn’t want more life points? The people that say money ain’t shit are usually the ones with plenty of it. And so, if there’s a route that will save us money, well, we’ll always take it.
This is why comparison sites are so popular. If you need car insurance, or a new phone, or tickets to Latvia, you can find a website that will claim to scour the wide web in seconds, finding you the best deal while you just sit there picking Cheeto crumbs out of your moustache. It feels almost too good to be true.
And that’s because it is, my friends. That’s right, that charismatic Russian meerkat has been lying to you this whole time. Aussie company Kyco is fed up with some comparison sites ripping off the public, so has decided to spill the tea on how their dubious deals and discounts are actually driving up consumer bills.
See, these sites aren’t just operating out of the goodness of their hearts. The old cliché of ‘there’s no such thing as a free lunch’ is a cliché for a reason. If you’re being offered up a free service, chances are you’re paying for it in a more insidious way, somewhere along the line.
In the case of comparison sites, it’s in the form of hidden commissions and high premiums. This isn’t new information, it’s been going on for a while. Back in 2014, Compare the Market was issued a $10,200 fine by the ACCC for making false claims about it supposedly comparing more health funds than anywhere in Australia. The ACCC found that it did not live up to those claims.
Kyco reckons some price comparison sites take around 25% of your health insurance premium from your first year, and 6% for each renewal. In some cases, that number gets as high as 40 – 50% in the first year. So, rather than saving money, consumers end up spending more in the form of unnecessary higher premiums. By comparison, Kyco says they receive a 3% handling cost for each deal customers sign up to.
In a 2017 Senate Economics References Committee report, both Suncorp and Allianz made their feelings known on the subject of comparison sites. With the former stating: “Suncorp has fundamental concerns about the operation of the sites and the accuracy of the information being presented to consumers.”
While Allianz stated they choose “not to participate in commercial comparison sites in Australia [because] they charge a fee for their service and therefore impose an unnecessary additional distribution cost that would need to be passed on to our customers in the form of higher premiums.”
It sucks when you find out companies lie to you, but it’s not all doom and gloom. For an Aussie-run alternative that will actually save you cash, check out Kyco, who are able to use their mass buying power to secure the best deals for consumers, with no lock-in contracts or time limits, and are always upfront with what that costs the customer.
