Comparison sites are useful for producing a shortlist and unreliable as a decision, because the things they rank on are not the things that decide claims.
What they rank on
Price, primarily.
Plus a handful of headline limits — medical, cancellation, baggage — which are the easiest to display in a table.
That produces a list ordered by something real, and it is a reasonable starting point.
What is not in the table
The exclusions, which are where policies actually differ and where claims are decided.
The activity schedule, which for an active trip matters more than every limit shown.
The excess structure — whether it applies per person, per section, or both, which changes the value of a small claim entirely.
The trip duration cap, which silently ends cover mid-trip.
Geographical limits, sometimes shown and often not prominently.
Claims handling, which no table can capture.
The commission question
Aggregators earn commission from sales, and not every insurer appears on every site.
Several insurers sell only direct and never appear on comparison sites at all.
That does not make results wrong. It means no single aggregator shows the whole market, and checking two or three plus a couple of direct-only insurers gives a fuller picture.
Default sort order is also a commercial decision as much as a ranking.
The filter problem
Comparison filters are coarse.
Selecting adventure sports as a filter does not tell you which specific activities at which specific tiers — and two policies both appearing under that filter may cover completely different things.
Selecting a medical condition filter may exclude insurers who would have covered it after a phone assessment.
The filters produce a shortlist. They do not produce an answer.
How to verify a result
Open the policy wording document for that specific product — insurers are required to publish it, and it is usually linked from the quote.
Then check six things against your actual trip:
| Check | Against |
|---|---|
| Medical limit | Destination cost levels |
| Repatriation limit | Distance from home |
| Geographical limits | Every country on the route |
| Trip duration cap | Actual trip length |
| Excess structure | Per person and per section |
| Activity schedule | Everything you might do |
Fifteen minutes, and it is the only part of the process that determines whether a claim succeeds.
What comparison sites are genuinely good for
Establishing the price range for your circumstances, so you know whether a quote is reasonable.
Finding products you had not heard of.
Filtering out policies that clearly do not cover your destination or duration.
Used as a shortlist tool rather than a recommendation engine, they save time.
The check that matters more than any of this
Whether the insurer is regulated in your country of residence, and whether a complaints or ombudsman scheme covers it.
Both are publicly checkable, and neither appears in a price comparison.