When you’re researching car insurance prices you’ll see lots of brokers showing off about their Defaqto rating.
While five stars always sounds better than two, if you don’t know what Defaqto is or what their reviews show, then a five star rating won’t mean much to you.
Being the helpful people we are at mustard.co.uk, we’ve created this little guide to help you understand exactly what Defaqto is and what its ratings mean.
Who is Defaqto?
Defaqto is an independent financial research company that analyses and rates different financial products.
From credit cards to insurance, investment products to current accounts, Defaqto assesses financial products and ranks them based on features that they think are important to you when picking your next insurance broker, for example.
What are the Defaqto ratings?
The aim of Defaqto’s ratings is to give you, the consumer, more of an idea of whether the company you’re buying a service from is any good, and it does that with a simple five star rating system.
As you’d probably guess, a five star rating is the best score and it shows that the product with that rating is a comprehensive one.
At the other end of the scale, products with a one star rating are much more basic.
A Defaqto rating is not based solely on price, focusing much more on the overall quality of the product.
What do Defaqto star ratings mean?
Defaqto describes each star rating as follows:
1 Star – A basic product with a low level of features and benefits.
2 Stars – A product typically offering a below average range of features and benefits.
3 Stars – A standard product providing an average level of features and benefits.
4 Stars – A product with a good level of features and benefits.
5 Stars – An excellent product with a comprehensive range of features and benefits.
How are Defaqto’s star ratings decided?
Defaqto uses a Data Numerical Analysis (DNA) method with each product feature given a score between one and five based on this.
Importantly, Defaqto, and the processes and methods it uses, is independent which means it is unbiased and you get an honest review of the financial products you’re looking into.
How to use Defaqto ratings
Defaqto ratings are an easy way for consumers to see where a financial product sits on the market.
For mustard.co.uk, if one insurance broker has a five star rating, and the other has a two star rating, then you know that the one with the higher mark from Defaqto offers a more comprehensive service.
So that’s Defaqto ratings. The higher the star, the more complete and comprehensive the product.
