A few years back I moved most of my insurances to Coles, price was right,renewals just small increases. Then I made a car insurance claim, at this point the stress started.

I was involved in a major smash, resulting in a death of another driver.

I have no memory of the accident and woke up next morning, aware that I had been in an accident, but with a badly broken arm.

The fun started when I inquired about my claim, my wife had informed the company next day, but no event was registered against the policy.

So commenced to make a claim and I stated I had no memory of the accident, but Coles thinks that if you ask the same questions over and over again my memory will be magically restored, came off the phone about an hour later absolutely stuffed and felt my recovery had been set back considerably.

Now two months later after many phone calls back and forth seeking more information from me with the same answers and telling them that the only ones with an answer for them about the accident would be the Police Accident Investigation Unit and giving them the police contact.

Ten days ago received the settlement notice and payout amount, but no money turned up in my account, so rang Coles to find out why, to find  they had stuffed up and sent the settlement letter in error as they hadn't completed their investigation

In conclusion they don't listen to anything you tell them and the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.

But I did have a win with my Green Slip Insurance yesterday and got $2000 for the broken arm, but I wouldn't have got that except I read through my policy document and then rang them and they admitted I was entitled to the lump sum but in all my conversations with the Green Slip company over two months, not  a word was mentioned about this lump sum entitlement.

All these insurance companies seem happy to take the premium but that's were it stops in regards to service.

Have now shifted all my insurances back to the NRMA lets hope if I ever have to make another claim it will be a better experience from the last one.

Hello Dave, just goes to show that a cheaper rate does not always achieve the best result. I commiserate with you and hope that you fully recover soon.

Gday...

The problem with insurance companies these days is that there are very few underwriters ... so the company you pay your money to is not necessarily the company that 'controls' the underwriting and decision making processes.

For example -

Insurance Group Australia (IAG) ...........

There is an expression that goes something about short and curlies. 

Cheers - John

Yes, we also had a bad experience with Coles Insurance,  luckily for us it didn't involve a claim, but none the less it did cost me quite a few $$$$

I had bought a car for the missis to use for shopping. but after insuring it with Cole's for a short period ( around 6-7 Months ) the Missis found because of her Medical condition, she could no longer drive, so I sold the car then rang Coles to cancel the policy, Fine they said but,,, WE DON'T REFUND ANY MONEY , thinking back now, I should have taken it further by contacting Consumer Affairs, but as it was only a hundred or so Bucks, I thought it's just not worth the trouble and left it at that.

So " WATCH OUT FOLKS, COLES INSURANCE JUST ISN'T WORTH THE TROUBLE" 

K.J.

Interesting how people view things & I note that we only have one side of the story. Coles Insurance is a brand name, it is not the underwriter.  Getting even with Coles Insurance & renewing with NRMA is still insuring with the underwriter  - IAG. I thought Guru spelt that out in his post i.e. Coles & NRMA are underwritten by the same company (IAG) and IAG made an announcement recently that they will be reducing their insurance licences and it will all be IAG. You may have to find someone else if IAG is not suitable. Love these complaints!

We were with Coles but we changed this year as there price was no different from a lot of  others,good luck hope you get it sorted you deserve a break....

Knightrider wrote:

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Interesting how people view things & I note that we only have one side of the story. Coles Insurance is a brand name, it is not the underwriter.  Getting even with Coles Insurance & renewing with NRMA is still insuring with the underwriter  - IAG. I thought Guru spelt that out in his post i.e. Coles & NRMA are underwritten by the same company (IAG) and IAG made an announcement recently that they will be reducing their insurance licences and it will all be IAG. You may have to find someone else if IAG is not suitable. Love these complaints!

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 I don't think it matters who the underwriter is it all depends how you are treated by the company you are dealing with, just how good the staff training is and if they have any empathy towards the person making the claim.

My main beef about the company I have been dealing with for the last 2 months is that no one seems to be listening.My complaints aren't being satisfactorily answered, emails asking questions are not being answered and when my questions are answered the information I am given is usually wrong.

I hope I will never have to go through again what has happened to me but if it does I would not hesitate to try another company, the problem is you never know how good an insurer is until you make a claim.

Cheers

David

Roving-Dutchy wrote:

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A few years back I moved most of my insurances to Coles, price was right,renewals just small increases. Then I made a car insurance claim, at this point the stress started.

I was involved in a major smash, resulting in a death of another driver.

I have no memory of the accident and woke up next morning, aware that I had been in an accident, but with a badly broken arm.

The fun started when I inquired about my claim, my wife had informed the company next day, but no event was registered against the policy.

So commenced to make a claim and I stated I had no memory of the accident, but Coles thinks that if you ask the same questions over and over again my memory will be magically restored, came off the phone about an hour later absolutely stuffed and felt my recovery had been set back considerably.

Now two months later after many phone calls back and forth seeking more information from me with the same answers and telling them that the only ones with an answer for them about the accident would be the Police Accident Investigation Unit and giving them the police contact.

Ten days ago received the settlement notice and payout amount, but no money turned up in my account, so rang Coles to find out why, to find  they had stuffed up and sent the settlement letter in error as they hadn't completed their investigation

In conclusion they don't listen to anything you tell them and the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing.

But I did have a win with my Green Slip Insurance yesterday and got $2000 for the broken arm, but I wouldn't have got that except I read through my policy document and then rang them and they admitted I was entitled to the lump sum but in all my conversations with the Green Slip company over two months, not  a word was mentioned about this lump sum entitlement.

All these insurance companies seem happy to take the premium but that's were it stops in regards to service.

Have now shifted all my insurances back to the NRMA lets hope if I ever have to make another claim it will be a better experience from the last one.

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 Yep, you get what you pay for!!

When I first saw ads by a supermarket chain for car insurance, I thought why would they be getting into insurance. The thought had been at the time just to rip us off the same as they do in supermarkets. This only reinforces that and sorry to hear of you problems. It is so hard to boycott these multinational conglomerates, perhaps a united stand?

Dutchy sorry to hear that you were involved in a fatal accident and suffered an injury yourself, that would be stressful enough. John I understand your point but I believe that if someone such as Coles advertises every 5 minutes on TV as being an insurance provider and then makes a profit selling their policies then they are the ones who must accept full accountability for the way that people are being dealt with. What I don't understand is that if all these insurance companies on the list have the same owner (IAG) how is it that people are happy with the service provided by some and not with others for instance I have insured with the NRMA/IAG for 40 odd years and I have never had any issues when dealing with them ? Maybe its more to do with how each one of the separate entities is structured and managed and I imagine that a supermarket chain is not structured to manage insurance as efficiently as some of the others - just my opinion.

cheers
BB

I'm insured with NRMA and back in 2005 I had a no fault accident in which my car was written off. I lodged a claim by phone at 4pm on the Thursday and the full amount of the claim was in my bank by the Tuesday. Very happy

Sorry to hear about your accident Dutchy. Your insurance contract is with the provider, not the underwriter. The underwriter is really just the provider's insurer. All insurance companies spread their risk across a number of other insurers. These insurers in turn then spread their exposure. You are not party to those dealings, your contract is with the original provider.

Eaglemax wrote:

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Sorry to hear of your accident. Back in 1991 we had a head on accident in msin street Broadford vic. Our little vw golf diesel (1976) was a right off, the other driver at fault. Insured with RACV I attended an iffice. I'd been a member for 3 years and insured by them for 2. Then the shock..."sorry, you arent insured by us." It turned out I'd paid my membership and forgot the insurance bill. He said "I'll do what I can" Late the next day he phoned me. "We have towed you car from Kilmore to Noble Park, we have valued your car for $5500, we will cover you as if you were insured. Do you mind if we subtract $100 for towing and $85 for the insurance for the period you didnt pay"?. Of course I was delighted. I got a cheque 3 days later. I had only paid $3300 for the car!!!. I've been a member of RACV and a client for over 27 years.

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I'm tempted to say all insurers are the same by having one premise in mind i.e. Collect premiums and do all possible to avoid paying out. However I feel that RACV may be an exception since they display a rare empathy and flexibility. I can't speak from claims experience directly but in all my other dealings with them they have been extremely efficient displaying a mentality of looking after the member. I have Extracare roadside service for 3 cars, insurance for my caravan (much lower premium than CIL) and insurance for a classic car (much lower premium than Shannons) all with RACV. I'm tempted to shift the insurance back to them for my other 2 cars currently insured with a supermarket chain, I think I'd have better peace of mind without paying much if any more.

Best wishes Roving-Dutchy, hope you are recovering well.