Which Insurance company are you with?

[elisiX]

That is actually a very good point - I did not see it that way. Thanks mate.

Ill have to give them a call to discuss - ill update with my findings (after I speak with 3-5 people and find the average response as its bound to vary).

I would have thought that they'd pay out the invoice price (rather than retail) as they will want to pay as little as possible.

I cannot forsee them getting away with paying the base price without options.

[MurphyTheElf]

When I took out my Allianz-backed VW insurance, they firstly asked how much I paid in total, and then I made sure they noted all my options. I'm quite confident they would do the right thing, but let's hope it never comes to that.

[mudguts]

I went with Suncorp $950 per year for Rating One for Life Over 25. Paid a bit extra to stay with Suncorp but that was purely to get my home and contents insurance 15% multiple policy discount. Excess is $500 for myself and my 25yo GF.

[Flighter]

There's a catch with "New For Old". It's in your PDS. The car needs to be available and within the country. Otherwise they may simply pay you out.

Not necessarily. Mine got wiped out in a hail storm, and not only did they order a replacement from Germany (which has yet to arrive), but they let me keep the old one until it does.

[Corey_R]

Hence why I said "Otherwise they may simply pay you out".

Many of us have read the various accounts from forum members during the recent Perth and Melbourne hail storms. For example, nicandlance had her few week old white 118TSI written off. AAMI checked and couldn't find an appropriate vehicle in the country or on its way, so they simply paid her out what she paid for the car. nicandlance already had received a fantastic deal the first time around, but lucky the dealer was happy to agree on the same price for a slightly different spec'd 118TSI in black, and nicandlance was happy with those specs and colour and took delivery almost immediately. So it worked out well for her.

Read around and you'll find that not everyone has been happy with this. They expected "new for old" and they didn't expect to be told by their insurance company that they won't wait for the several months for the car to arrive and where paid out.

[Flighter]

Hence why I said "Otherwise they may simply pay you out".

Yep - no argument there.

Read around and you'll find that not everyone has been happy with this. They expected "new for old" and they didn't expect to be told by their insurance company that they won't wait for the several months for the car to arrive and where paid out.

No argument with that either. Given the circumstances, I would have been annoyed if I'd been paid out too.

[AdamD]

I called my insurer, Allianz, today to enquire about their conditions regarding mods. I'm not planning on doing anything yet, but was keen to find out their charges for an APR stage 1 tune, larger intercooler, catback, etc etc - just out of interest.

I was told, in no uncertain terms, that any modifications that would increase the car's performance above stock would void my policy, and they wouldn't insure any vehicle directly that had been so modified. This includes APR ECU tunes. I was pretty surprised, so asked to speak to the supervisor on duty, and the same information was relayed to me - no performance mods, period. (I'm 32, rating 1 for life, no claims, etc.)

So, for those of you with modest performance modifications (as above: APR tune, mild exhaust, things like that), who do you insure with, and what is their attitude to your mods?

[MACCAA]

I'm with GIO who are OK with APR.
I beleive AAMI are also.
Slight increase in excess[$100 I believe]

[Corey_R]

I'm with Shannon who are quite happy with extensive mods. No increase to premium for me, unless I wanted to cover the cost of the mods in the coverage (note, for hardware mods in 2008 they wanted to inspect my car to see them and would only cover about 1/2 their value... mind you there was a lot and it was a fully optioned MKV GTI, so it was probably way above their upper threshold that they'd normally cover).

I was also with NRMA until just recently with my Polo GTI before I switched back to Shannons (due to them increasing the policy price for no good reason after my first year). NRMA are also fine with at least an ECU flash and, like Shannons, stated that there is no increase in premium cost unless I wanted the policy to cover the cost of the mods.

Whilst I have never had any hardware mods with NRMA, it was relayed to me that if the car would pass RTA inspections for road-worthiness, that NRMA would cover it! So don't go doing any mods which require an engineers certification, such as brake upgrades! But then, I wouldn't risk not having an engineers certificate for those types of mods with any insurance company

[Ryan_R]

I'm pretty sure RACV were ok with it when I asked them a few months ago. I wouldn't double-check that though.

[MACCAA]

NRMA {Sydney} flatly refused to cover my S3 when i advised them it had a reflash.
Maximun no claim, no at fault claims[in over 40 years...]-still no dice.
That's why I switched from them to GIO.

[rs73]

GTI '09 build. AAMI, Rating 1 37yo male clean history $825 std excess ($500?) in high risk Melbourne west suburb

[Corey_R]

NRMA {Sydney} flatly refused to cover my S3 when i advised them it had a reflash.
Maximun no claim, no at fault claims[in over 40 years...]-still no dice.
That's why I switched from them to GIO.

That's strange. What year was this?
NRMA were fine with my ECU flash this year....

[ratedr]

AAMI - Be seriously warned..

As a warning to everyone... AAMI are downright cheap and nasty.

They took 12 months to repair my 2 year old Peugeot 308 XTE HDi. Insured for $50k, repair bill $50k +++.

Ruined a year of my life in terms of motoring and having a life. Absolute failure for the sole purpose of insurance. They are the most incompetent people I have ever dealt with.

Unlucky Your With AAMI Insurance should give you further guidance.

I have been advised by those in the repair industry that Allianz is the best in the business. None of this 2 quote scam that NRMA and AAMI use to significantly underquote your repairs...

I have used NRMA for repairs before and they were good. AAMI, not worth a cent.

[ratedr]

And it has to be noted, 'Andrew Miedecke Smash Repairs' in Port Macquarie, mid north coast NSW, avoid at all costs... Only horror stories coming out of there and I have contacted all manufacturers they claim to be 'preferred repairers' for. Completely false advertising and the most unscrupulous dealer/repairer I have ever dealt with. They represent everything that is wrong with the smash repair industry.