In April and May of this year we performed a benchmarking exercise, measuring the user experience of 20 Irish, UK and US car insurance websites.

We found Tesco to be the best value for young male drivers. For the young female professional, Quinn Direct offers the best value. However, all of this amounts to nothing if your potential customers don’t get as far as a quote. The process of getting a price is still dogged by usability problems.

31% of quote forms end with a consumer leaving in frustration, without getting a price. – Online Finance Shopping Survey (OFSS), Fool Proof.

We explain why. In examining the usability of 20 websites, we point out where websites are failing their potential customers and by looking at examples of best practice, where they can improve. We conducted an expert usability evaluation of 20 online insurers and scored them according to a set of usability criteria specific to the online insurance quotation process.

The top Irish site was Hibernian Direct, which ranked 5th overall with a score of 67%, 9% behind the winner, US site Progressive. There were only three Irish sites in the top ten, Hibernian Direct (67%), Quinn Direct (63%) and Allianz Direct (63%). Two Irish sites (AXA and Eagle Star) managed to score zero, for bringing site visitors to a complete dead end.

The average score for Irish sites was 44% a grade of poor. The average score for US sites was 68%.