Get super organised and be one of the first to test ‘Simples’ from Compare the Market

July has been a stressful month for me.

My car is due for its MOT in July, and yet for the first 20 days of the month I did absolutely nothing about it. That’s a lie. About nine times a day I thought to myself ‘I really must check when the car is due for its MOT.’

Turns out you can just look it up on the DVLA website, but in my mind it was a gargantuan task that would involve sorting through masses of paperwork and trying to find last year’s certificate. Or, horror of horror, actually having to use the phone to call the garage and speak to a human being.

(I don’t like using the phone.)

Fortunately for me, on July 2oth I went to an event with Compare the Market, that involved me finding out when my car was due for its MOT!

I know right?! What are the chances? It’s true though. I was testing out a brand new product from Compare the Market, called Simples. It’s currently in beta, but I’m going to tell you a bit about it, and how you can sign up now and be one of the first to try it while it’s still in its testing stage. It’s genuinely a fantastic tool, so do read on. Plus, later in the post I’ll reveal whether or not my MOT turned out to be overdue.

DUM DUM DUM DUM!!

The idea behind Simples

The idea behind Simples is that, however much we might long for a filing cabinet, full of neatly organised documents, all of which we had read and understood, that’s not reality. Most of us just have a big pile of paper on the floor, or in a drawer somewhere, that we frantically root through when we have an emergency, and that we probably don’t really understand at all.

Take your car insurance for example – do you actually know when it’s due for renewal, or do you rely on your current insurer to remind you, just in time for you to accidentally renew it with them because you never get round to looking somewhere cheaper? Do you know exactly what you’re covered for? Or what number to call in an emergency?

No, I didn’t think so.

Me neither.

Except now I do, thanks to Simples!

How Simples works

Simples is so far set up to handle car, travel and home insurance and is essentially a hub, where you can upload all your documents for easy access. As well as being somewhere safer to keep things than the bedroom floor, it has lots of cool features:

  • You can upload photos or PDFs (and at some point have it directly pull emails from your inbox) and it uses AI to ‘read’ them and pick out the relevant bits of information.
  • It then provides a summary of each policy, with key facts like renewal dates, and exactly what you are and aren’t covered for, in straightforward language.
  • When you upload your car insurance documents, it automatically looks up your MOT status – mine had eight days remaining – woohoo!!
  • You can set reminders, so you have time every year to search for the best deal.
  • They have a text service, so you can ask simple questions in tricky situations e.g. if you’re on a ski lift and suddenly wonder whether or not your travel insurance covers you for winter sports.

Compare the Market Simples app

The Simples dashboard

Simples is still in beta, so there are still some tweaks to be made, but I think it’s an absolutely brilliant idea. The interface is really simple to use and easy to navigate, and I just love the idea of having all these insurance documents to hand, translated into simple English. There’s something about it that gives you an immediate grown-up feeling, like you might actually be in control of your life after all.

Your dashboard lists all your policies, and then you simply click through to find out more about each. Each policy is even given a Defaqto rating, so you can see how your current insurance coverage rates.

Compare the Market Simples app

Test Simples in beta now

If you want to give the beta version of Simples a try, here’s what you need to do:

  • Visit my.simples.uk.com
  • Sign up for Simples with your Comparethemarket.com login (you might need to set this up additionally, but that won’t be the case long term)
  • Add a car, travel and/or home insurance policy
  • Use the SMS chat widget to speak to and ask questions of your policy

Don’t forget, it is still in the development stage, so if you notice any errors or see things you’d like added or changed, you can always contact Simples to let them know, or leave a comment on this post and I will feed it back.

It would also be really interesting to know your thoughts on the app generally, and any additional ideas you might have. Within the group of bloggers testing it, we definitely felt it would be useful to expand Simples to include other types of insurance and potentially even household bills, phones and other regular payments.

Who knows, one day we might be able to get rid of that bedroom paperwork pile for good.

Compare the Market Simples app

Produced in association with Compare the Market – all opinions my own.

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3 Comments

  1. 29 July, 2016 / 3:27 pm

    That sounds really clever – especially being paper-free and having everything in one place!

    Have a great weekend. x

  2. 29 July, 2016 / 10:47 pm

    It does sound like a really great concept. I’m so distracted by the text saying “Your covered” though….

  3. anne wallwin
    30 July, 2016 / 8:24 am

    it is a good idea but i still think i’d keep paper copies ‘just in case’ then i’d forget i had uploaded them to simples and still spend ages looking!

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