Painful procedure

I went onto the Hippo website and thought it would be great to get some quotes on a potential vehicle I am looking into purchasing.

From the onset of the return call I told them: - this is for my wife who obtained her drivers in Germany, and - that we do not currently own the vehicle and I am just looking for quotes.

50 minutes later I am given 4 quotes, but Hippo cannot supply me with any details of these quotes other than Premium and Excess amounts. How am I possibly supposed to make a decision based only on price? I have no idea what exclusions, exceptions, limitations there are but now need to make a decision. On multiple occasions during my 50 minutes I ask for emails with documentation or prices or ANY additional information (they can tell me some basic information but can't email me ANYTHING) So again, I have to WRITE everything down to then try and make an informed decision on (why am I using the internet?) At this point I have dedicated this wasted time to this procedure and may as well see it through. They direct me to the consultant of the company I have chosen (based only on price) and guess what - They had no information about my wife and could not send me information because I was only looking for a quote and actually don't own the vehicle yet (which is the first thing I tell Hippo) and therefor can't email me a document that I can use for comparison purposes.

This procedure would have been so much easier had I just sent an email through to numerous providers and communicating via email. At least this way I have information on record and have documentation that I can compare and use to make an informed decision instead of one solely based on price.

I have used a medical aid accumulator before and they were able to send me a document with all the providers with their plans with the understanding this can change based on each individual. I cannot fathom why the procedure cannot be as painless with vehicle insurance.

In the end , I spent a total of 60 minutes of a fruitless exercise (my fault for not dropping the call at 20 minutes already - but I kept being told it won't take long now)

Absolutely useless service which I will not recommend to anyone.