Switching helps insurer notch up record sales
MONEYSUPERMARKET Group has notched up higher profits after cheering record sales thanks to booming car and home insurance switching as customers tried to find better deals in the face of “exceptionally” big cost hikes.
The group, which helps customers compare deals, reported an 8% rise in pre-tax profits to £92.1 million for 2023, with sales up 11% at £432.1 million.
It recorded a 28% surge in insurance revenues over the year, with a 27% hike in the fourth quarter, as rocketing premium prices drove high levels of switching.
It said: “Exceptionally high premium inflation continued, driving high search traffic in the quarter and fuelling high levels of switching in car and in home.”
But it said the ramp-up in car premium costs started to stabilise towards the end of the year and the group is expecting it to become harder to match the same levels of insurance revenues over 2024, particularly in the second half.
Moneysupermarket said it saw no material revenues from energy switching and added it does not expect this to improve over the year ahead.
Peter Duffy, chief executive of Moneysupermarket Group, said: “We helped customers save a record £2.7 billion in 2023.
“The more we can help households save, the more the group grows.”
The group – whose Moneysupermarket.com TV ads star actress Dame Judi Dench – said that car insurance premiums jumped by 35% to the end of November, while home cover rose by 34%.
Insurers have been hiking premiums to offset rising repair and labour costs throughout the industry.
“The combination of high levels of premium price inflation and the cost-of-living squeeze resulted in high levels of search traffic with consumers seeking a better deal,” according to Moneysupermarket.
This has been helping make up for the loss of energy switching business, while it has also seen a dearth of demand for borrowing and mortgage switching, which has been affected by rising interest rates after the Bank of England increased them to a 15-year high of 5.25% last year.
It said: “Within our banking product lines, current accounts performed strongly as customers looked to lock in high savings rates and promotional switching incentives.
“2023 was our best ever year for current account switching, with attractive deals available across a range of providers.”