CAR COVER - SHEILA STYLE ; Girls Take Their Time to Choose Right Car Insurance

WOMEN spend the same time buying car insurance as choosing their Christmas party outfit, research shows.

To mark their second birthday, Sheilas' Wheels examined how the personal finances of the fairer sex have changed.

The study concentrated on how car insurance fits into women's priorities and whether their tendency to shop around for abargain rings true.

It found that women now have more control than ever of the household purse-strings with just one in six women in a relationship leaving the finances to their partners.

More than two in five women take sole responsibility for managing the finances whilst the same number of households split the chore 50:50.

When it comes to shopping around for car insurance, the average woman spends two hours and seven minutes before choosing an insurer. That's just 23 minutes less than the time spent on finding that perfect Christmas party outfit.

According to the poll, over a third of women spent less than an hour choosing the right insurance cover but this is perhaps down to the speed that now comes with price comparison websites, which are now used by a third of women.

Word of mouth was the top way of choosing car cover, with women being influenced by other women's personal experiences and recommendations.

Increasing numbers of women are now researching different policies online, choosing price comparison sites such as moneysupermarket.com, confused.com or gocompare.com

Reading the personal finance sections of newspapers and visiting online money sites were also high on the list.

However, a quarter of women remain less switched on and admit to never carrying out any research at all before they buy their car insurance policy.

Only one in every two women ever takes the time to read the small print to compare the quality of the product and its benefits, such as a free courtesy car as standard.

Jacky Brown, spokesperson for Sheilas' Wheels, said: "Women are becoming more discerning customers.

"They want well-priced and good quality car insurance - both factors that have contributed to the rapid success of Sheilas' Wheels. In terms of interest, we know that fashion will always win over finance."

She added: "But it is interesting that women are now giving serious time to their insurance purchases and effectively window shopping policies via company websites and, increasingly, price comparison sites.

"A friend's recommendation is still a key factor and this has clearly contributed to the word of mouth that has boosted Sheilas' Wheels sales."

(c) 2007 Daily Record; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.