Which Insurance company are you with?

[srl]

My GTI just ticked over 12 months and with it came the Allianz renewal for just over $1250! I have not made an insurance claim on a car since 1998, live in a fairly safe suburb in Sydney's north and am in mid-40s. So the cost seemed a bit high. I did some quick shopping and ended up with AAMI. A trick I discovered is that online didn't allow me to nominate all the options (Detroit, ACC, BiXenon), but I got them added once I had a cover note number and called them up. Cost me $720, although I did decide to take on a $2k excess, given that I don't make that many claims. On a lower excess, premium was about $900. On the money I saved, I can claim every four years and still be in front. And, I checked: policy coverage is identical. Anyone else had some high priced insurance renewals come through recently? I wonder if they just assume you'll pay it?

[Corey_R]

Well... given you took a $2k excess, the policy already isn't identical. Also, no details about hire car (and under what conditions), windscreen, etc. Also, you then have to deal with repairers that want to deal with AAMI...

Anyway. Why not go for YOUI ?

[backdoc]

I did alot of online quotes for my GTI. Currently my Skoda is with AAMI and for $1000 excess it is only $600 with windscreen protection. So naturally I rang them to compare the GTI and that was $1200 with $1000 excess! I called RACV and for the exact same cover, with windscreen and $1000 excess it was $680! I am 33 and Rating 1 for life. Couldn't believe the price difference though. My finance company sent me a quaote automatically and that was $2200!

[aVex]

I'm with RACV.

Residing in dodgy Kensington, Victoria.

29 Years, Rating 1, Golf GTI MK6 Manual 5 Door, Agreed Value $49K

Approx $1080/year $700 Excess

[markwid]

With NRMA - $820 premium on agreed value.

[Finance_Analyst]

i am with Suncorp and live in inner city brisvegas, lug. only 523 bucks with 2 yr new for old. allianz was even cheaper at 468 but paid extra as ive been told suncorp is better

[easeup]

RAC. $1650 annual comprehensive with $850 excess. Includes windscreen and hire car (in case of theft only). Ouch! But then, i am 20 with only a 30% no claim bonus.

[langers_sydney]

Phoned around, went with NRMA due to the 'modifications' don't matter clause, reputation, availability for dealing with them on phone if anything happens and the agreed value was good. Oh and they were cheapest $940.

LS

[JPanDAX]

Gio $1200 with named drivers and $600 basic excess.

Based on 55k value replacement.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Ozram]

There was something on one of the current affairs shows last night about Coles now doing car & home insurance. I typed in my details on the website and found it saved me around $350. I will be looking into it further to see if its the real deal, although Paul Clitheroe reckoned it was comparable with all the other companies. I did one for my son's vehicle and that came out way over what he is currently paying so the savings may be only for drivers over 25. Might be worth checking out.

[ralp2dam]

There was something on one of the current affairs shows last night about Coles now doing car & home insurance. I typed in my details on the website and found it saved me around $350. I will be looking into it further to see if its the real deal, although Paul Clitheroe reckoned it was comparable with all the other companies. I did one for my son's vehicle and that came out way over what he is currently paying so the savings may be only for drivers over 25. Might be worth checking out.

They are cheaper but don't cover you for the same things such as other company's like NRMA. The other things maybe be; windscreen, hire care and choose your own repairer etc etc. So whilst they may save you money obviously you need to compare apples with apples for your own needs.

[Ozram]

They are cheaper but don't cover you for the same things such as other company's like NRMA. The other things maybe be; windscreen, hire care and choose your own repairer etc etc. So whilst they may save you money obviously you need to compare apples with apples for your own needs.

The first two you mention were included. I think what the difference may be is that they don't cover items inside your car that may get nicked.

[Corey_R]

I cannot stress enough how much you guys need to read the FULL PDS. I mean seriously! More seriously than even reading the owners manual, lol.

You guys are saying things like "the policies are the same, except for excesses and stuff" (paraphrasing).

I haven't heard any of you say "the policies are the same except I'm not covered if I crash due to slipping on my own engine coolant." This quote is a SERIOUS QUOTE. I'm not making that up. But I'm also not going to tell you guys which of your PDS' that statement is in.

I had this argument with my sister in the past two weeks when she was going to save ~$200 by going with a company which wasn't NRMA (wasn't GIO or QBE or Allianz or one of the other good ones either). Lets just say, the number of "disclaimers" to avoid payouts for accidents which are not technically the fault of the driver/policy owner but which are not the fault of any potential other car was alarming to me, and even alarming to my little sister once I started reading some to her. Within 30 minutes she had cancelled the policy (during the cool-off period) and signed up with NRMA (RACV/RACQ for you non-NSWers), using the month to month option instead of one up.

Insurance companies are a business, they're there to make a profit, and sure, some are bound to be aiming for more profit than another. But when all things are added and subtracted at the end of the day, an insurance company needs to charge their customers more than what they have to pay out. So make sure you read the PDS word for word to understand where you're potentially not covered by this wonderful insurance that is consistantly saving everyone hundreds!


(note... even between the good companies, one year they can suck for an individual, another year they can be good... I seem to have to bounce between NRMA and Shannons etc every couple years to keep my premium "normal". i.e. one of them will push it up 20% one year, so I'll go to the other for a year or two, same thing happens, swap, lol... that's not the "savings" I'm saying to be weary of).

[srl]

Yup, you're right, Corey. Need to read PDS. AAMI offer a 14 day cooling off period, so will check out options. In relation tonyour comments, though, I did indicate if I went with a lower excess, premium would be about $900. Premium cover includes windscreen excess waiver and hire car. But slipping on coolant? Sheesh! PDS never makes for fun read, but looks like I'm doing some light reading tonight. NRMA did seem to have reasonable premium, but my past experience with NRMA and AAMI (admittedly 10-12 years ago now) left me with the impression they were quite similar in relation to speed of payout, quality of repairs etc. In fact, I remember AAMI were pretty easy to deal with when some kids decided to use my wife's then 3 week old car's roof as a trampoline ...

[markwid]

Yeah, Corey's warning is right on. I checked out Coles Insurance PDS carefully and it is not comparable to NRMA. It is cheaper because it is a lesser product - more situations disclaimers to avoid coverage