MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: JCAT on April 09, 2013, 07:55:14 PM
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Our Prado's Insurance Renewal has just come in and bugger me dead if it hasn't jumped up another $100 or so to $751 per year or $71.97 per month.
It is with AAMI and insured under my wife's name and after a bit of online searching and a return phone call we have received two substantially cheaper quotes from Budget Direct and Youi.
On line Budget Direct quote - $462 or $45 per month
Over the phone Youi quote (they ring you back straight away when you try and get an on-line quote) - $525 per year or $48.60 per month.
I haven't rang AAMI to try and get them down yet, I am of the opinion to screw them as they are trying to screw me, surprise surprise.
My question is has anyone had any experience with claims or otherwise with Budget Direct or Youi?
Don't want to pay less to sign with a dud.
My only experience with Budget was a work one, when they paid out a bloke after his car mysteriously caught fire, without even checking with the police. Don' t know how they keep their prices down using that philosophy.
Any experiences good or bad are welcome.
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I am changing from AAMI at the moment and tossing up both the same options as you are.
Youi are looking good for me as their office is on the Sunny Coast so if there is a problem I will go down and bang my neanderthal fists on the table until I get what I want.
Theres no loyalty with these blokes so use it as a way to shop all your policy requirements.
Ceers Nomad.
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They are cheaper because the don't cover contents of your car. Also pets travelling are not covered.
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They are cheaper because the don't cover contents of your car. Also pets travelling are not covered.
how do they go with the fine print and going offroad?
Do they cover towing
They aren't cheaper cause they like you.
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how do they go with the fine print and going offroad?
Do they cover towing
They aren't cheaper cause they like you.
Valid points ^.......
Even policies that claim to cover you off road will probably have a clause down the back that talks about "Willful and Reckless Behaviour"..........if THEY decide you've been "Willful and Reckless", guess what happens??
:cheers:
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Just been through the process and Suncorp ended up my pic of the bunch, even better with multi policy discount. Better than YOUI and slightly more benefits.
good luck.
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I am a recommended repairer for all of the above insurance companies plus many more.
I will say with insurance you get what you pay for in most cases. Just like buying a car, if you want a landcruiser then don't buy a Great Wall so to speak.
The better insurers tend to be the big name ones.
Ie the suncorp group which covers
Suncorp
Aami
Just car
Apia
Shannon's
Racq is also good but 49% owned by suncorp
Allianz and qbe and lumley are worth a look
Youi are new comers to the market and run programs and procedures suited to Europe and many repairers and customers get very frustrated with them.
Iag group which covers Nrma and cgu are average to deal with in Queensland especially Nrma "ie your damaged vehicle is displayed on the Internet for repairers to tender a quote and whomever is prepared to do it the cheapest gets the job" they may tell you that you have choice of repairer which is true but your chosen repairer must match the cheapest quote otherwise you pay the extra. This is different in Nsw.
The cheaper ones generally like using non genuine and parallel parts to keep prices down so they can pass the savings on through your premiums.
Be very careful choosing an insurer as it can bite you if things go wrong.
Also some insurance companies lower premiums to get your business, it will slowly catch up to the others over the next few years.
Sent from Behind you...BOO
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I intend on comparing the PDS for these companies
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Ask Alexander.......
compare the meerkat
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Racq bought itself back from Suncorp about 2 years ago
I work for a large insurer and have mates who work for the others.
Aami will recover you from anywhere! And I mean anywhere. At the end of last year I had to arrange to get a hilux and its jet ski from 500ks west of Ayres rock... The car was drivable but the claims assist guy said (and wrote on the claim notes) that we would so that's it. Cost 3.5k to get them to bris but they did it because they said they would.
Tbh it really depends on who you get answering the phone in some instances, if your not happy with anything get it referred to a team leader.
Read the fine print, especially in regards to parts, hire cars and recovery.
Good luck with whoever you decide.
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Tbh it really depends on who you get answering the phone in some instances,
(http://oels.byu.edu/student/idioms/idioms/images/hit_nail_on_head.jpg)
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Every year Aami send me a renewal with an increase and in the past 2 years when I told them I'm not paying the increase and I want a better deal thy have come to the party. Same with health insurance new renewal, strong discussion on phone better health cover and benefits for less premium. Thy want to keep you.
Swannie
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Every year Aami send me a renewal with an increase and in the past 2 years when I told them I'm not paying the increase and I want a better deal thy have come to the party.
Swannie
Same.
We have House, contents, 3 cars and the Jayco insured with AAMI. Everytime a higher policy renewal comes in and a quick phone call with a 'not good enough, given all of our policies' gets a better deal.
Squeaky wheel gets the oil.
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Funny I have insured with RACV for years, we bought a new car in October last year, and GIO were way more competitive, similar level cover etc, so much so I got them to quote my patrol as well, and they beat RACV by $300 a year on each vehicle.
RACV did not even want to talk about the cost difference..........on the house and contents the situation was the reverse.
Got me stuffed :/
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We have four cars (Third Party Personal and Comprehensive), two trailers (box and KK) and close to 20 years membership with NRMA.
Every time I ring them they tell me I can get a multi-policy discount if I move my house insurance to them. The problem is that the increase in house insurance premium is greater than the saving on the 8 other policies I hold with them. When I ask how many policies do I need to hold for a multi-policy discount I am told it is multiple types of policies rather than the number of individual policies.
The main issue I have is making sure that we are covered off-road.
Bunyip
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Every year when I get the renewals I always ring AAMI back and they drop car insurance by 6% have done this for four years now.
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It doesn't matter what you pay for the premium, it's the claim that's important. I'd be more interested in hearing how claims have been handled, in particular people who have claimed for damage while offroading. What experiences have you all had with claims of this type, who paid out quickly with no hassles and who had trouble?
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If you have a modern diesel, watch that they cover for contaminated fuel. RACQ, Shannon and QBE will not, AAMI will. I got that in writing. Kevin
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It doesn't matter what you pay for the premium, it's the claim that's important. I'd be more interested in hearing how claims have been handled, in particular people who have claimed for damage while offroading. What experiences have you all had with claims of this type, who paid out quickly with no hassles and who had trouble?
I have dealt with aami twice. Once for an accident and once for a house fire. Both times they were brilliant and went above and beyond.
Swannie
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I am insured with AAMI. We have everything insured with them. The reason for this is when the crap hits the fan I don't want to be talking to a machine and getting nowhere. I pay the extra for their excellent service, which I might add I have had occasion to use, and was very happy with the service. That little bit extra each month is the best money we spend.
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Definitely contaminated fuel is also a biggie in your diesel, can cost many thousands if someone fills it up with unleaded. Not wanting to hijack the thread but I think it's important, who has had experience with claims when off-roading, i.e. Fraser Island, The Cape etc where we hear stories of drowned vehicles, also camper trailer claims, it appears that the biggest worry on the camper side is theft?
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Thanks for all the replies, will ring them today, maybe if I transfer my home insurance to them they will come good.
Also interested in hearing about anyone with claims experience from any company. Accidents, drownings etc in remote locations.
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I looked into changing insurance companies as I feel we are getting bent over but the ones I have spoken to won't insure more the $5k worth of accessories. Our current vehicle has been insured with these items since new so there was no issue there but changing companies they don't seem to like it.
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Rang AAMI up and while they couldn't match the others they dropped it basically straight back to what it was. I am paying an extra $1 per month which I can live with.
Given all the positive comments I will stick with AAMI and am now considering swapping my home insurance over. While it will not save me any money (same fee) the buildings are new for old whereas Allianz works on a buildings figure and if it costs more to replace it you are left with the shortfall.
Thanks for the quick input.
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Have had vehicle claims with both AAMI and GIO recently. Couldn't fault either of them although it took a long, long time to get through to AAMI's customer phone service.
GIO added an extra excess of $100 because of the 2 inch lift on our Paj. We didn't notice it on the renewal and are looking elsewhere (probably AAMI).
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I was with Youi for 2 years on both our cars. I would run away screaming and end up a shivering mess in a corner somewhere.
My experience with them was shocking and I only had to replace and repair a windscreen. Don't think about what your new policy will cost in year one... ask what it will cost in 3 years.
Also, ask Youi about their no-claim bonus... And then ask them to compare that your current provider... If you figure it out, you are smarter than me.
I would present those two quotes to AAMI and see what they are prepared to do.
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Had insurance with budget direct on previous vehicle (jeep). Had one not at fault crash and they were difficult to deal with. They only had one inspection centre in Brisbane where the vehicle had to be taken, otherwise would have to wait for assessment til assessor was in our area. Other vehicle reversed into our car whilst pulling out of a shop carpark driveway so their fault entirely, yet when went to pick up vehicle from repairer they would not let me drive it away without paying excess, despite agreeing at assessment time that there would be no fault apportioned. Took several frustrating minutes on hold on phone to get this rectified.
Noticed about a year later that the front headlight that was replaced was getting that glazed cloudy look to it. Went back to repairer who reviewed our file and advised that budget direct had instructed them to fit a used headlight instead of new. Repairer replaced with a new one and followed the matter up themselves. In short, as said by others you get what you pay for. And they too tried to rock the premium up by about $120 at renewal time, so gave them the flick.
FIL had caravan ins with NRMA and had another vehicle run into the side of it whilst merging onto a freeway. Once again, an obvious fault of the other driver (had to have horse blinkers on), but despite the obvious nature of the claim NRMA sent out an investigator to interview him and then mucked around for 3 months after that before finally approving a repair. But as his caravan is early 90's the panels etc are no longer available and they then took another 2 months deliberating over what to do. Finally got a custom repair approved and 6 months after the crash he had his van back.
Those are my 2 most recent insurance experiences.
Don't know the truth of this, but I was told by RACQ about 10 yrs ago that the reason insurance premiums can vary (for them anyway) is that they only base there calculations on vehicles THEY insure, not industry wide figures. So if they insure 100 patrols for eg they base their premiums entirely on what happens to those 100 vehicles ie how many were stolen, how many were crashed, what was the average repair $ etc. So, if they have a bad history with a certain make of vehicle they will be dearer than others. Just what I was told, maybe someone working in insurance for RACQ can confirm if this happens or was ever the case, or whether the consultant was just FOS.
For the record I insured a Mazda Astina V6 with them and they were about $300 cheaper than the next best company out of 5 quotes, hence why I queried the quote and that's the answer I was given.
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I looked into changing insurance companies as I feel we are getting bent over but the ones I have spoken to won't insure more the $5k worth of accessories. Our current vehicle has been insured with these items since new so there was no issue there but changing companies they don't seem to like it.
Try Shannon's, they specialize in modified vehicles.
Sent from Behind you...BOO
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But like I said, Shannon's do not cover contaminated fuel. Well sort of? This was part of their reply to my question.
'In relation to fuel contamination, there is no exclusion preventing a claim being made. However, in order for the claim to be valid, it would need to be proven that the damage was in fact caused by contaminated fuel and not mechanical failure or faulty workmanship. The Third Party responsible for the contaminated fuel would need to be provided as well.'
Imagine when travelling and trying to identify the party responsible! And if you could you would approach them anyway. Just not good enough answer from Shannon's. But, if you do not have a modern diesel it is not an issue. Kevin
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Hi Krisandkev,
Shannon's do cover contaminated fuel and also mis-fueling (unleaded into diesel), the answer you got was a standard cover our bum approach just in case.
What they need to know is the facts and that will be determined at the assessment. If it a genuine case of contamination or mis-fueling then the claim will be honoured, but as they said mechanical failure is not coverable.
As for identifying the responsible party this only goes towards whether you have to pay an excess or not, if you can identify then no excess is payable, if you cannot then you have to pay the excess for the claim to proceed.
As for the original question, you need to prioritise what is important to you personally for your insurance needs; for example is a hire car important, is windscreen cover important, is cover for personal property important. You will get what you pay for, don’t whinge later if you chose the cheapest policy.
Think about this, I put a windscreen in a Lamborghini Murcielago this week, cost was $8981, do you think that customer was glad he chose a policy that has one free windscreen claim a year?
Tangles
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Tanglestoo, if he can afford a Lamborghini, he can afford the windscreen.
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9k for a windscreen?
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9k for a windscreen?
$8981.....
Yep,seems mad doesn't it. Its like why is that bag $4000 when thebetter, non fashionable one is $30. Its worth whatever someone's willing to pay for it.
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Tanglestoo, if he can afford a Lamborghini, he can afford the windscreen.
Too right.
Works out to roughly 1.5% of the cars value, which is about the same % for a windscreen on my $12,000 Hilux! I'm tipping a windscreen is cheap compared to a 50,000km service or a set of tyres!
If you can afford a $600,000 car, then you probably keep enough change in the ashtray to cover this sort of stuff and the yearly insurance premium is probably aruond the $10,000 - $15,000 mark?
What's the old saying at a Ferrari dealer "if you have to ask how much, then you can't afford it".
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Missus and I were with AAMI for years on full no claim for life and the premiums were climbing while the lad had Budgetdirect and when he had no probs with 2 no fault claims I decided that was good enough for me.
We've similarly had 2 hassle free claims with BD now, the last one when a young lass clipped the mirror off the Suzy. In that case BD claims said get a quote anywhere and gave me a claim no. and contact ph/email/fax so I chose the Suzuki dealer and yes you take it to them, they quote and send it off to the BD contact, it was approved in days and in I went to have it replaced with no paperwork on my part, bar the initial, over the phone, claim details.
All the insurers work that way nowadays with contract assessors, or else in AAMI's case(our work vehicles) you took it to their depot in town and they get the crash repairers to come and quote and then you pick it up and they tell you where to get it fixed. That's what happened when the back tailgate on my ute got crunched on a bollard (why don't they make them higher than our windows?).
With the missus Suzy SX4 we are with BD on over 40s with full Rating1 no claim for life and I upped the excess from $300 to $600 because no minor dent will cost less than that and I figure I'll grab the premium savings and take the punt on how often that occurs, given our experience. I'm well ahead on that.
BD are really for over 25s with good claims history and don't whatever you do think you can fudge the kids on your insurance policies. All insurers are a wake up to mum and dad buying a car for the kids and taking out cheap insurance in their names thinking they'll cover the kids under their umbrella. In SA the only way to get the kids started is RAA Insur for Fire, Theft, TPP insurance which covers a car up to $5000 market value for no fault payout and that will begin to build their own no claims experience. Full comp is horrible for kids U21(worse for lads) and still usurious until they reach 25 but the sooner they start with their own no claims record the better or they'll never afford insurance on a dearer car and that means no finance.
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Hi Krisandkev,
Shannon's do cover contaminated fuel and also mis-fueling (unleaded into diesel), the answer you got was a standard cover our bum approach just in case.
What they need to know is the facts and that will be determined at the assessment. If it a genuine case of contamination or mis-fueling then the claim will be honoured, but as they said mechanical failure is not coverable.
As for identifying the responsible party this only goes towards whether you have to pay an excess or not, if you can identify then no excess is payable, if you cannot then you have to pay the excess for the claim to proceed.
As for the original question, you need to prioritise what is important to you personally for your insurance needs; for example is a hire car important, is windscreen cover important, is cover for personal property important. You will get what you pay for, don’t whinge later if you chose the cheapest policy.
Think about this, I put a windscreen in a Lamborghini Murcielago this week, cost was $8981, do you think that customer was glad he chose a policy that has one free windscreen claim a year?
Tangles
A bit offended there, I do not 'You will get what you pay for, don’t whinge later if you chose the cheapest policy.' I have multiple polices for our farm etc, I do my research and read the PDS and contact the insurer if I have a question, as I did with Shannon's. Their reply was as I stated in my thread. No mention of how you explained it. Perhaps you work for them and can make the statement you made, but I would only trust what they originally gave me in writing. I am not sure what you, or your company, mean by 'the answer you got was a standard cover our bum approach just in case'?
P.S. I have windscreen cover etc and price of a policy is not a true marker. (Sorry to drag this thread down a bit. I was only stating a fact and trying to help.) Kevin
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Well I am with QBE and have been for 20 years. When we purchased the Dmax I wanted to make sure that I was covered ANYWHERE in Aust, I went to great lengths to make sure of this. After a lot of conversations, emails etc I was satisfied and renewed with them.
Something that I wasn't aware of and it is something that worries me, especially since we intend to do a lot of travelling, is the contaminated fuel.
It was mentioned further up in this thread, that they don't cover it and that person is correct. I just got off the phone with them and they refuse to cover it, so I told them I would be moving my insurance to another company.
Now all I have to do, is find one that covers everything I want, so it's back to the drawing board.
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Is this the insurance add-on you're looking for?
http://www.waterindiesel.com.au/6308/Water_Watch_System/ (http://www.waterindiesel.com.au/6308/Water_Watch_System/)
although I wouldn't have a modern common rail diesel car for quids now that I and the insurers know what they're all about-
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2040959 (http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2040959)
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Try Shannon's, they specialize in modified vehicles.
Sent from Behind you...BOO
It's funny you say that. I was on the phone to them tidying up some paperwork with my "specialised car" that is insured with them and they said is there anything else I can help you with. So I asked for a quote on the Prado and they were one of the ones who wouldn't come to the party.
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Sorry if I offended you Krisandkev, that remark was not aimed at you but at the people who chose insurance purely on price and then wonder why the coverage is poor when they make a claim.
You do the right thing if you read a PDS and see if the policy suits you, everybody has different needs and this is why there are many different products on the market. And yes you have to be careful about contaminated fuel because some insurers are starting to write it out of the coverage due to the very high cost of repairing common rail diesels (a single injector is commonly over $1000)
Insurance companies are like any large organisation, some people will have good experiences some will have bad ones, a lot of the time it comes down to the person dealing with your claim.
BTW the lambo was a 2003 model so the screen was around 5% of the value of the vehicle.
Tangles.
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It's funny you say that. I was on the phone to them tidying up some paperwork with my "specialised car" that is insured with them and they said is there anything else I can help you with. So I asked for a quote on the Prado and they were one of the ones who wouldn't come to the party.
That's odd. They covered my old patrol with about $45k of mods on it and they cover my current one too although less modified it still has over $10k worth of mods. All mods on both vehicles are listed on the policy too.
Maybe it comes down to the person that answers the phone.
Sent from Behind you...BOO
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It's funny you say that. I was on the phone to them tidying up some paperwork with my "specialised car" that is insured with them and they said is there anything else I can help you with. So I asked for a quote on the Prado and they were one of the ones who wouldn't come to the party.
I have heard all about Shannons for YEARS as awesome pricing on 4wds. I used them years ago on my Shitcati...
So 3-5 time I called over the last 6 odd years, and got told we don't do 4wds.
Last year after reading another thread with a name and rego number in hand from someone had theirs insured, I called again. All of a sudden they DO insure 4wds..
They were only 1 of 2 that would do a reasonable agreed value on the GU.
If they are that unorganized on if they insure you or not, got help you making a claim.
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Do any of you CRD diesel owners use these as extra insurance-
http://www.proquip.com.au/ProductPages/Funnels/MrFunnel.html (http://www.proquip.com.au/ProductPages/Funnels/MrFunnel.html)