Consumers should be careful when buying insurance products online in order to avoid problems with cover later, according to warnings by a major broker group.

The Professional Insurance Brokers Association (PIBA) said that buying insurance online could be convenient, but that consumers should beware of hidden pitfalls and look at the details of the cover before they made a purchase.

Rachel Doyle, chief operations officer of the PIBA, said that consumers needed to be much more alert when shopping online, as dealing directly with product providers meant independent advice could not be guaranteed.

“There are subtleties and increasing complexity involved in insurance products, the consequences of which generally do not emerge until it is too late,” Doyle said. “When you need to claim, you may find that your policy is void because you did not give a full enough answer to a particular question.”

Those buying car insurance should be especially vigilant when it comes to step-back bonuses, excesses and the class of cover. For example, Doyle warned consumers to take care with voluntary excesses.

“If you have a choice of voluntary excess and you choose, for example, to pay €500, there is also an excess built into the policy, so your voluntary excess is added on top of that,” she said. “There is always an excess. The higher the excess, the lower your premium – but is your level of cover adequate?”

Another issue for motorists is the class of cover, according to Doyle.

“If you were to have an accident while using your car in a work capacity, but you had chosen to insure your car for social, domestic or pleasure use, you would not be covered,” she said.

Doyle said those buying home insurance online should keep an eye out for age-related discounts or discounts for property features, such as an alarm or smoke detectors.

She said the cheapest quote was not always the best value one.

“We would say to consumers: shop around and get a range of quotes to find the best possible product that adequately covers you and provides you with a full understanding of what is included and excluded in your policy,” Doyle said.