Tech-savvy Singaporeans should all be familiar with travel comparison online services like Skyscanner and Trivago. We use them to help us sieve through the tonnes of flights and travel accommodation options to get the best travel deals.
What if I were to share with you that such a online comparison service is available for insurances too?
Meet GoBear, an online insurance portal which aims to be a neutral, unbiased tool for the savvy insurance buyer.
First of all, it is a free service. In addition, GoBear claimed to have reached 1.2 million users and helped their users to save on average – 20% on their premiums. That is a lot of savings!
GoBear has been in Singapore for a year already and been racking up rave reviews from various news reports in the Straits Times, Business Times and Channel NewsAsia, among others.
“Unlike some insurance agents, comparison websites are also objective – GoBear, in particular, doesn’t gain by favouring certain insurance companies, so you can rest assured that they work with your interests in mind.” Shared Mumbrella in their assessment of GoBear.
The Straits Times described GoBear as “effectively the only completely unbiased comparison site for all available credit cards in Singapore – it does not push products nor advertisements.”
Note the term ‘unbiased’ which is especially important for comparison sites to have a strong value proposition to the end consumers like us. We need them to always think of our interest first and not pander to the insurance companies to earn more commissions.
GoBear has a slew of just about all the major insurers on board their platform, including Citibank, MSIG and Great Eastern, to name a few. It is provider-neutral and therefore provides unbiased comparisons.
“The idea for GoBear came about because insurance and finance products in Asia are not very transparent and the distribution model is still very traditional, so we identified a gap in the online insurance market,” shared GoBear chief executive officer Andre Hesselink.
I agree with Hesselink. It is often frustrating when you try to sieve through insurance policies on your own as they are deliberately worded and marketed in such a way that it is confusing for the consumers and difficult for us to make comparisons.
GoBear strive to change this by making comparisons easy, converting us all into savvy insurance buyers.
A visit to the GoBear site is welcoming, with the minimalist interface, clean and simple navigation. It is easy to toggle between the three main insurance types – car, travel and health for comparisons and equally easy to switch to loans and credit cards comparisons.
Everything is converted to simple, digestible information so we can understand what we need and get what we want easily.
Best of all, the comparison services are also entirely free!
How GoBear generate revenue is from the insurance companies when you make a choice and decide to purchase a policy, directed from GoBear.
While the idea of an insurance comparison service may seem simple enough, putting it all together is not that easy. First all, you will need to get all the insurance companies to come on board and be comfortable with their offerings being placed side-by-side with competitors for comparisons. Somehow, Go Bear managed to pull it through and now, they are celebrating their first year anniversary!
To celebrate, the Bear from GoBear is hitting the streets between 16 – 19 March to share some BearWisdom to improve our daily choices. Pick up some BearWisdom and you might just be flying to Gold Coast on FlyScoot with a friend!
Simply go with the following steps:
- Like GoBear’s Facebook page and keep a lookout on the page for the Bear’s next sighting between 16 – 19 March.
- Approach him for a piece of BearWisdom.
- Snap a photo of your BearWisdom and comment on the latest post of the Bear’s recent sighting.
- Only one individual per entry is allowed.
- For more details of the draw, visit: http://bit.ly/GoBear1-contest
On 23 March, the lucky winner will be picked from a random draw and announced on GoBear’s Facebook page. Simple enough? Hold on tight and watch out for the very first Bear sighting details!
