In recent years a plethora of ‘price comparison’ websites have sprung up all over the Internet. They offer to do the legwork for you, comparing all the different quotes that you could get for everything from loans, to mortgages to insurance, and guarantee that you will get the best possible deal at the end of it all.

Obviously, though, it’s not that straightforward. Whilst some price comparison sites are undeniably extremely good at what they do, others, the Financial Services Authority has said, are not actually offering accurate information or the best deals available.

Part of the reason for this is that a lot of comparison websites sometimes take a certain amount of the policy as commission from the companies for whom they are selling packages. This means that the price is slightly inflated compared to what its actual cost would be if you were to buy directly from the policy provider.

Another problem is that a lot of companies don’t want people to use price comparison websites. If, for example, they have paid for good advertising on television they want people to get policies directly from them, firstly because it cuts out the middle man, and secondly because there may be other policies out there that they don’t want people to see, particularly if they represent better value for money.

So we now hear adverts that finish with a reminder that the policies just offered aren’t available from anywhere apart from their own salesman, even directly stating that you won’t find them on price comparison websites. This poses a problem for the price comparison sites because they don’t now offer a completely comprehensive range of policies, and that will bring their accuracy into question even further than it already is.

But what actually represents the best value for money for the customer? Price comparison websites are a good place to start; they will certainly give you a basic idea of what you should be looking for when it comes down to getting a policy. After that it’s best to try a couple of providers and see whether they can beat the price quoted over the Internet. Or you can do your own comparing. Some websites like Alliance and Leicester, who provide current and savings accounts, resent their own table that compares various quotes for loans online.

Ultimately you should get the best of both worlds: make sure that you actually talk to someone over the phone or face to face, after you’ve done some thorough online research perhaps. Make sure that your policy will cover absolutely everything that you need it to, otherwise there isn’t really much point having insurance in the first place. For the moment, price comparison websites offer a great place to start, but not necessarily the best place to end your hunt for an insurance policy.