How will AI affect price comparison websites (aggregators)?

AI is likely to replace much of what price comparison websites do, because LLMs can weigh far more than price, comparing cover, exclusions, service and suitability, and recommend far more accurately than a price-sorted table.

PCWs won by aggregating one variable. LLMs aggregate everything: policy documents, reviews, claims reputations and the buyer's own situation described in plain English. A buyer who can say 'find me the right van cover for a self-employed carpenter with one claim' and get a reasoned shortlist has little need for a form and a table.

The shift is already visible, with assistants recommending insurers directly and aggregators racing to bolt AI onto their own journeys. The direction of travel favours whoever the models know and trust, not whoever owns the results page today.

For insurers the move is to build that machine-readable reputation now: LLM optimisation, a consistent entity, coverage in sources models trust. The brands AI can confidently recommend win the post-PCW world, and they need the panels less in the meantime.