Defaqto 5 Star Rating

As the UK’s leading camping and caravan insurance specialist, we’re committed to providing great value products of the highest quality. We’re extremely proud of our 5 Star Defaqto Rating, so we’ve outlined what this great achievement means for our customers.

Who is Defaqto?

Defaqto an independent financial information business, helping financial institutions, financial advisers and consumers make better informed decisions. Their independent fund and product information helps banks, insurers and fund managers with designing and promoting their propositions. They analyse more than 41,000 financial products in the UK that change on a daily basis.

They have been doing this for over 20 years, and have 60 experts spending 400 hours a day monitoring the market. These experts ensure that the information they provide is accurate and up to date. Their experts have done all the hard work so that financial institutions, financial advisers and consumers can make better informed decisions.

What does a 5 star Defaqto Rating mean?

By collecting and analysing data from across the whole market, Defaqto use Star Ratings to enable customers to easily compare and contrast the quality of financial products by the Rating they receive. Product Ratings are calculated by assessing between 40 and 100 features and benefits, with each scored from 1 to 5. The scores are then totalled and all products ranked to determine the overall Star Rating.

Products with a higher Star Rating are more comprehensive and generally of a higher quality. Products rated 1 Star are described as “basic” with a low level of features and benefits, while 5 Star products provide the highest level of cover with a comprehensive range of features and benefits. A 5 Star Rating is defined as an excellent product with a comprehensive range of features and benefits.

“Our in-house team analyses 56 separate features and benefits of touring caravan insurance policies when calculating the Star Rating. This includes 12 ‘core’ criteria which Defaqto states should be provided by a touring caravan insurance policy for a 5 Star Rating to be given e.g fire, theft, accidental, malicious, flood and storm damage.”Mike Powell, Insight Consultant – General Insurance at Defaqto

Why is a 5 Star Defaqto Rating important for customers?

Particularly when buying a financial product such as insurance, it’s important to base your purchase decisions on the quality of the product rather than just how much it costs. It pays to be properly protected by a specialist insurer who understands your specific requirements and the possible claims scenarios that could arise.

Buying insurance can be a costly, time consuming and confusing process, and with so many products available it’s often difficult to know which one to choose. Rather than searching through hundreds of caravan insurance reviews, Star Ratings give a quick indication of where a product sits in the market in terms of the features and benefits it offers.

“Defaqto Star Ratings provide an at a glance view of where caravan insurance products sit in the market in terms of feature quality and comprehensiveness. 5 Star rated products are amongst the most comprehensive propositions on the market.” Mike Powell, Insight Consultant – General Insurance at Defaqto

Using Defaqto to compare caravan insurance

Defaqto Star Ratings are a trusted industry standard for assessing the quality of the various products on the market, providing independent and unbiased caravan insurance reviews that consumers can trust. When looking for touring caravan insurance reviews online, unregulated user reviews or other Rating systems such as those found on many price comparison websites are often unreliable.

Defaqto does not have ties with any provider and providers do not pay them to rate their products, which means they are able to maintain a fair, transparent and consistent assessment of the whole market. Star Rating criteria is also reviewed annually and adjusted to reflect changes in the market, meaning you’ll always have the most accurate and up to date reflection of caravan insurance reviews available.

“When buying caravan insurance it is essential that people match the features and benefits they need with those provided by the product they choose. If consumers focus on price alone they can run the risk of not including the cover they actually need.” Mike Powell, Insight Consultant – General Insurance at Defaqto

What Shield products have Defaqto Ratings?

Shield Total Insurance is proud to provide some of the highest quality cover in the market. Since Star Ratings for caravan insurance were introduced in 2012, our touring caravan insurance has consistently received a 5 Star Rating. We are one of only 13 UK insurers to receive 5 Stars for this product in 2020, ranking above several well-known competitors including the AA and Cover4Caravans.

“The Ratings from Defaqto mean a lot to our product development teams who have worked very hard to pull together some of the highest quality cover in the market. It communicates to caravan owners that we provide quality cover and include a comprehensive range of features and benefits.” Stuart Craig, Marketing Manager at Shield Total Insurance

Why it’s important to choose a 5 Star insurance provider

It’s all too easy to be lured in by a low price tag, but if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. When it comes to caravan insurance, choosing a specialist provider like Shield Total Insurance could save you a lot of hassle further down the line. Only specialist caravan insurers fully understand how caravanners use their product, and therefore tailor their policies to suit such use – it’s no surprise that Defaqto 5 Star rated products are all supplied by genuine specialists.

• Is the basis of cover the same – are you comparing like with like? If caravan insurance strikes you as cheap, or there is a significant difference in premium between one provider and the other, this should set alarm bells ringing.
•  Is the excess the same? Insurance companies – particularly those with online propositions – often drive down the price by giving customers a larger excess in the event of a claim. With Shield’s fully flexible cover, we believe that decision should rest with the consumer.
• Are you being adequately rewarded – both in terms of price and excess – for taking every possible measure to protect your caravan from accident or theft?

In our opinion, Defaqto looks at all of these issues to make the buying decision easier for the consumer. 5 Stars means exactly that!