Some years back I changed my insurance on our house to Budget Direct, and received a good saving from our previous insurer. The premiums have increased a bit each year but reasonable we thought. They were recommended on here if I remember correctly.
However my new premiums have arrived and I was shocked to see they went up ~$1000 in fact almost double, for next year. WTF. No explanation given after a phone call, best they can do
I have a quick quote from my previous insurer which looks to be ~$800 less than BD. I will get a few more today. Who do you use ??
Jaahn
-- Edited by Jaahn on Monday 27th of November 2017 11:12:37 AM
I do the check each year on 6 or so company's, last year left Budget and went to Allianz.
Like you i have found the premium just jumps up and they assume you will just cough up.
Try APIA or the company you insure your vehicles with. I have a car & van with one company and house, house & contents & car with other and get multi policy discount with each.
I always check that my house and house & contents are still insured for a reasonable amount.
My contents were being increased by a percentage that was about double inflation so I cut back on contents regularly.
The last few years have seen massive cyclone damage to the Queensland coastal regions - couple that with higher than normal bushfires down south and it's easy to see that insurers are reassessing risks.
As an example, my house/contents in Toowoomba is insured for $480K and policy is $1200 yet my son on Townsville with almost identical cover has to pay just under $5000. Years gone by the risk was more evenly spread across all policies but the massive payouts previously mentioned have led to the insurers adding a 'premium' to those most at risk. So, low risk = low premium and high risk = high premiums.
That's the way it was explained to me.
Suggest you try Coles Insurance, a friend of mine has been very happy with them.
Yes may seem strange, but they are part of Wesfamers conglomerate and there is an Insurance Division, used to be Federation but no idea what they call it now.
No idea of rates or claims good or bad. Have absolutely no connection, not even Shares in the company.
Cheers,
-- Edited by blissonwheels on Monday 27th of November 2017 04:56:12 PM
Coles insurance is no longer part of Westfarmers, their underwriters are IAG.
I was with Coles insurance and was happy with them till I made a claim and my experience was absolutely terrible
I don't think I have experienced as much stress as Coles put me through when I made a claim.
My recovery after the car accident was put back by months. They just didn't listen to anything I said and when I lodged complaints about my treatment all I got was rote replies.
The final straw was when I received the settlement email and several weeks later I still hadn't received the payout, contacted them and they said that email was sent in error.
Many months after my claim lodgement I finally received my payout.
No way in the world would I recommend Coles Insurance.
Cheers
David
David, and others, if you encounter a problem with your insurer for any asset ... simply contact the Financial Services Ombudsman.
I have experience with a particular, VERY well known, insurer who tried to screw us to the wall ... I only gave them three months of their attitude, similar to your issues David.
The Ombudsman was an excellent advocate, easy I guess because the insurer was be being absolutely intractable, and not only a full and complete settlement, but compensation WITH interest back-dated to the date of the original claim.
We shop around every year, and this year moved the house policy from AAMI to Woolies based on cover and premium. I hope I never need to find out what their claims service is like, but I suspect someone is bound to enlighten me! I've also found multiple policy discounts with big name insurers (usually 10%) come nowhere near the deals you can get by shopping around. It's also amazing how many insurers have the same parent, Suncorp's portfolio of "insurers" is a classic example.
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Cheers,
Tony
"Opinion is the medium between ignorance and knowledge" - Plato
Well I got quotes and settled on Australian Pensioners Insurance for $ 876 paid monthly at no extra.
Woolworths was identical price and background insurer. Tried Coles and quite a few others but all the others rose by hundreds and climbed well above a thousand, ending well above two thousand All quoting on the same figures.
So with a couple of hours on the computer and phone I saved $1269. The world has gone mad, loyalty counts for SFA and Budget Direct did not want my business with the $1000 rise in premiums.
It always amazes me how premiums vary so much despite many insurers being owned by the one group.
NRMA Insurance, CGU Insurance, SGIO, SGIC, Swann Insurance, NZI, State Insurance, China Automobile Association[1]NZI Thailand, Safety Insurance, AmAssurance, Lumley Insurance, WFI, Coles Insurance, Lumley Retail Warranty are all owned by Insurance Australia Group (IAG).
A mate never has paid house insurance. Reckons it's a waste of money,most would say that's dumb,personally I insure just about everything,but when I think about it in all the years I have been alive I don't hnow anyon personally that has had a house. Destroyed where we live it's a million to one chance but we still pay the ransome to the greedy money grabbers...
A mate never has paid house insurance. Reckons it's a waste of money,most would say that's dumb,personally I insure just about everything,but when I think about it in all the years I have been alive I don't hnow anyon personally that has had a house. Destroyed where we live it's a million to one chance but we still pay the ransome to the greedy money grabbers...
Hi Ron
Yes insurance is a waste of money until you need it
BUT as a reminder a unit burnt out just around the corner the night before last The fire brigade got it under control in half an hour or so, and as the result the other units were OK by the look of it. However that unit is stuffed and will have to be completely rebuilt.
So we pay the ransom but try and minimise the pain a bit. I saved a good bit this time and probably will look at the factors which affect the premiums and do some upgrading of security features on our old Federation house, to reduce the cost a bit more.
Its called lazy mans tax!
Ijust received my Jeep insurance policy renewal from coles it went up by over $200.
Shopped around and got insurance with woolworths for a good rate.
2hen i called coles to cancel they tried hard to get me to resign but could not match the deal i already had.
pays to shop first then cancel to se what they then offer.
Insurance:- a necessary evil
cheers
Bobkat
Many, many years ago when I was shopping around for car insurance I eventually got my policy halved with the company I was with. That was with over the counter service. Doing that over the phone could be a tad difficult. I had the personal liability cut from $10,000,000 to $5,000,000 and upped the excess ($400 to $600 ?). Read the fine print and see what you really need.
Co-incidently got my house insurance renewal this morning. $515 for $441K in Ballarat.
I've got policies across APIA & RACV as both actually have offices in Ballarat that I can discuss issues face to face.
Good story with RACV contents insurance. I got wiped out in a flood about 12 years ago in our prior house. They gave me a Coles card for about $800 for incidentals such as mats, power boards - stuff floor level. When the assessor was have trouble replacing like for like, I suggested he just give me a Coles card for the amount that we'd agreed on. Rang his manager and it was an instant done deal. The card had a two year expiry date and we bought all our groceries etc. (Coles, Kmart, etc.) until all the money went and used our grocery money to re-furnish the house. No damage to house building. Concrete blocks on concrete floor.
