A&G Insurance Services has launched a new price comparison website, Captain Compare, to compare quotes for car insurance, as well as mobile phone plans, broadband deals, credit cards, pay TV and home loans.

A&G, a subsidiary of South Africa’s Budget Insurance Group, sells car insurance in Australia under the brands Budget Direct, Australia Post and Virgin, among others.

Budget also operates comparisons sites comparethemarket.com in the UK and hippo.co.za in South Africa.

MD Insurance Services Michael Weston says consumer demand for price comparison sites, where they only have to enter their details once to receive a range of quotes, has fuelled the move.  

“We’ve seen car insurance comparison-related searches on Google increase by 800% in the three years from January 2008,” Mr Weston said.

Car insurance comparisons on Captain Compare, of up to 10 live quotes, are provided by A&G while the price comparisons on the other products on the site are undertaken by independent Australian online comparison provider WhistleOut.

Price comparison sites make money through referral fees from product suppliers, and in the case of car insurance they often also earn a commission.

The move comes as one of Australia’s best-known price comparison sites, iSelect, announced the sale of a 10.2% stake to US private equity group Spectrum Equity Investors for $30.2 million, valuing the company at $300 million.

iSelect was founded in 2000, initially comparing health insurance quotes before adding car insurance, life insurance, travel insurance and home loans to its product stable. It recorded sales revenue of more than $43 million in the last financial year.

iSelect is an unlisted public company but co-founder and CEO Damian Waller has revealed plans to move into gas, electricity, broadband and telecommunications comparison before considering an IPO.

Still in their infancy in the Australian market, price comparison websites are big business in developed markets overseas.

In the UK, where around 25% of all financial services transactions are done through price comparison sites, Google recently paid £37.7 million ($60.4 million) to acquire for BeatThatQuote.com.