comparis.ch is the leading Swiss Internet comparison service. On comparis.ch, consumers can compare rates and services of health insurances, other insurances, banks, telecom providers, property, cars and motorbikes as well as special offers from retailers - quickly and easily. Thanks to the comparis.ch comparisons and ratings, consumers can directly change to the provider with the best price-performance ratio.
comparis.ch was founded in 1996 by the economist Richard Eisler. His idea of offering consumers a fast premiums comparison in the jungle of the health insurance market proved to be successful. Since then, over 500,000 persons have changed their health insurance provider via comparis.ch. Thereby, people changing their health insurance save over 300 million francs per year. In March 2010, comparis.ch won the silver medal in the category „Simply the Best“ of the renowned Swiss Internet prize “Best of Swiss Web”. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Internet prize, the best Swiss websites of all times were awarded in this special category.
Since June of 2000, comparis.ch is a public limited company based in Zurich and employs around 100 persons.
Who likes to pay too much for the same services? Nobody! According to a representative survey, over 90 percent of the Swiss population thinks that saving money is a positive thing. However, today's market with its various rates, premiums, fees and reductions makes a comparison a real challenge for consumers. comparis.ch makes sure that offers can be compared properly. Constantly, the Internet comparison service observes and analyses over 1 million premiums of health insurances and insurances, more than 90,000 telecom rates, approximately 300,000 offers from the areas of cars, motorbikes and property, 1,000 special offers from supermarkets as well as more than 1,000 interest rates for mortgages and credit offers. Thanks to applications especially developed for mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad and Android retail market (Smartshopper), property, car market, mortgage and health insurance offers and premiums can also be checked from on the road. This service empowers consumers more than ever before - as they can see within seconds where they receive the best offer at the lowest price. These services make consumers more powerful than ever – as they can see within seconds where the best offer for the best price is made. Additionally, comparis.ch quarterly publishes the Konsumentenstimme (in German, French and Italian) with numbers, facts and background information on current consumer issues.
comparis.ch is only obligated to the interests of the consumers. Therefore, only the original prices of the providers are shown in the comparisons. Loss-leader prices or hidden fees are not to be found. com-paris.ch also does not mince matters if the experts detect unfair rates which might deceive consumers. Many a provider already had to revise his offer after public criticism from comparis.ch.
The comparis.ch comparisons are comprehensive and take all market-relevant providers of an industry who make their rates available online into consideration. No provider shares in comparis.ch. Also, all of the comparisons are constantly online. Nobody could be privileged by comparis.ch, as the competition would realise straight away and take the according steps. This guarantees the neutrality of the comparisons and ratings.
comparis.ch counted over 26 million visitors last year and therefore belongs to the most-used Swiss websites. Four out of five Internet users know the independent comparison service. They appreciate the transparency and savings opportunities, which arise from the comparisons. comparis.ch sees this sign of confidence as a large mission to constantly offer completely reliable and neutral comparisons.
If you yourself have once already made the effort to compare the offers for a certain product, you will know how difficult and time-consuming this is. Which provider is selling the product at what price? What are the conditions? Can the products really be compared or are they actually different products? At comparis.ch, around 100 people work on the task of answering these questions for consumers. No matter if insurances, banks or mobile phone subscriptions – constant market observations and complex analyses run in the background behind each comparison.
comparis.ch finances the comparisons through the sales of advertisements as well as the forwarding of clicks and offer requests to the providers who want to make use of these services. Depending on the sector, this service costs from CHF 30 per request and is the same for all providers. In average, every third request leads to a deal – this is shown by the annual survey among Comparis users. In return, the insurance companies can strongly reduce their expenses for insurance agents, call centers and administrative processes. Admission and sequence of providers in the comparison are independent from whether they make use of the comparis.ch services or not.
On 4th December 1994, the Swiss voters decided on a reform of the Health Insurance Laws (KVG). From then, the new situation was that the policyholders could choose and change their insurance companies themselves. Therefore, since 1996, the health insurance companies have been in a competitive situation. comparis.ch has an important function in this competition:
- Since 1996, the comparis.ch comparison makes the complex premium jungle transparent, clear and comparable. These are the requirements for the policyholders to be able to properly use their freedom of choice.
- Thanks to the comparability, the health insurance companies are under a stronger pressure to offer cheaper premiums. This e.g. also forces them to organise their administrations efficiently.
- If the policyholders could not compare the premiums online and request offers, they would have to get onto the phone and make the effort to get the information from each health insurance company. One request by phone and its processing causes the health insurance companies costs of about CHF 100.
- The IT processes at comparis.ch are significantly more cost efficient. Calculations show that the health insurance companies can save up to 500 million CHF administration costs – only due to the automatised comparis.ch processes.
- comparis.ch shows the financial advantages that come with alternative insurance models and optional deductible rates. Thereby, these models are promoted – according to the KVG. They cause more health-related personal responsibility of the policyholders and diminish the rise in health care costs.
- comparis.ch doesn't make any home visits – but is a passive information offer for everyone who is interested.
- The policyholder has to have the wish to switch insurances. comparis.ch does not persuade anyone actively to change.
- At comparis.ch, the policyholder decides him/herself which insurance is ideal for him/her.
- Everyone can compare their premiums with comparis.ch, no matter what age and health situation. comparis.ch does not participate in the hunt for the good risks
- comparis.ch screens and rates the insurance offers critically and discourages from taking out unnecessary insurances.
- comparis.ch includes all health insurance companies in the comparison.
- Thanks to the automatised offer requests on comparis.ch, the insurance companies need significantly less telephone agents and processors – which reduces the processing costs.
The users of the comparis.ch website can make comparisons on price-performance ratios in the following sections:
Health insurances
Insurances
Banks
Telecommunication
- The comparis.ch goal is to offer comprehensive price-performance ratio comparisons in all business sections. comparis.ch therefore relies on the providers to make the according data available. Where this is not possible, comparis.ch at least tries to include all market-relevant providers in the comparisons.
- In the interest of market transparency, comparis.ch also supply data of those providers who do not wish to do so.
- In order to be included in a comparis.ch comparison, the data of the providers need to be prepared in such a way that they can be directly compared with the data of the other providers. comparis.ch reserves the right not to include data in the comparisons if they do not meet this criteria.
- It is the comparis.ch aim that at least 80 percent of the users can compare the products of their current provider with the competing offers.
- For all price-performance ratio comparisons, the comparis.ch neutrality guarantee applies.
comparis.ch
Stampfenbachstrasse 48
CH-8006 Zurich
Phone: +41 (0)44 360 52 62
Fax: +41 (0)44 360 52 72
