This is absolutely standard for financial products in the UK. The direct price is often more than double the one you get via a price comparison. For example, I

This is absolutely standard for financial products in the UK. The direct price is often more than double the one you get via a price comparison. For example, I just paid about £410 for one year's comprehensive car insurance with Aviva, via a broker, via moneysupermarket.com. When I went to Aviva direct they quoted me £950. This makes some economic sense, but as a consumer I just hate it. It makes apparently simple purchases really hard work. (In a similar vein, in the UK it's often possible to save 50%+ on a long-distance train journey by buying a number of tickets covering various parts of the journey, even if you're staying on the same train throughout).