Car Insurance

[j*oono]

I dumped my old car insurance with GIO and took up a policy with Coles, underwritten by Wesfarmers.

I was a bit shocked with the renewal policy from GIO, or Resilium.  $763 with a $500 excess on a car that is only insured for $12,900.  No claims in the past and with 65% no claim bonus.

Coles/Wesfarmers gave me a quote and with extras it came to $490.  It's fully comp.  Has anyone else switched to Coles and any problems?

[azureline**]

I just switched one of my cars to Youi, so much cheaper and excess the same. My daughter and sil are with Youi, claimed for an accident and all went smoothly.

My other car is with RACQ because it has a body kit? no one else would insure it.

[smilmertennis]

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@roserobin12 wrote:

We recently left SGIO for exactly the same reasons Joono quoted, hubby had his vehicle with them ever since he got his license. We went to Aami who interestingly is owned by Suncorp who also owns GIO. 

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Roserobin12, SGIO and GIO is not the same company.

GIO is owned by Suncorp, but unless something have changed in the lately, SGIO is owned by IAG.

[cherry*135]

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@j*oono wrote:

It's agreed value Am.  The same that I had with GIO.

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Yes, but the Coles policy says:

• an agreed value and we will pay up to the sum insured on your schedule

If your agreed value is $12 900, they can pay out less than that if they decide to.

Whereas a policy that says (which mine does) agreed value is ,for example $12,900, that means they will pay out that amount, no less.

If anyone is considering switching insurance, house, car, contents to get a lower premium, your exisitng insurance company might match lower premiums from their competitors  if you ask them.. rather than lose a customer.

NRMA have this customer retention program thing where they phone their customers to see what they can do to lower premiums.

[green.fields]

smilmertennis,

I know SGIO and GIO are different companies. I didn't say SGIO is owned by Suncorp, I know they are owned by IAG. I said AAMI and GIO are owned by Suncorp.

[daydream**believer]

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@j*oono wrote:

You should get a list from him Daydream about which ones are good and which bad.  I'd love to see that.

We have had our house/contents insurance with AMP since the day dot, now it comes under GIO and Resilum too. You never really know who you are insured with these days.

I didn't make a claim in over 20 years and then we had a couple of years with a claim for a smashed glass door (someone threw a brick through it) and then the air conditioner compressor for a few thousand and then the leech drain pump replacement.

The claims were a breeze, really good but thanks to that our excess has gone through the roof and with that a warning letter letting us know that we would be reviewed yearly due to over claiming.  That was maybe 3 or 4 years ago and they still haven't dropped the excess even though no further claims made.

Fantastic PR after maybe 30 years of customer loyalty!  They will be next to go.

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  We had similar with Allianz. Had everything isurred with them and never claimed a thing. Then over a period of 2 years, we made three claims due to 3 different morons running into the back of our car. Completely the morons fault. We got a letter as well basically saying that if we claim again the excess will be more.

We dumped them and went with RAA (Similar to NRMA in New South Wales)

If i remember, ill ask hubby tonight for the bad list

[j*oono]

Well obviously they will pay up to $12,900.  If you just want to claim for a small amount of panel work they aren't going to pay the full amount.

If it's a write off then it would be $12,900.

[j*oono]

Thanks Daydream.  I do hope that Coles aren't on it or Wesfarmers.

[amber-eyed-girl · Accepted solution]

Joono, hubby was automatically going with whatever deal for comprehensive insurance his insurance broker told him was the best deal.

last year, this broker was bought by Wesfarmers. Their quote was for over 1000$ from Wesfarmers. I queried it, as the same policy through Coles, where the only difference was 100$ more in excess, was 550$. That more than covers the excess difference if one needed to claim.

He went with Coles. Same underwriter for the policy, same policy fineprint.

we were rearended by a driver with no insurance on a Saturday night. The Coles claims number was answered quickly, they were friendly and efficient. First thing Monday, they had an appointment ready with a local crash repairer, to look at it.

The car had no structural damage and just a couple of nicks in the paint, so in the end, no claim was made, but I was impressed by how they responded. So my car is insured through them too now.

[j*oono]

Thanks Amber.  That is good to know.  

I suppose it really does pay to shop around and people also need to remember that brokers are paid by the insurance companies or banks, not by the buyer.

That is one thing that I didn't like with my old insurance.  You had to speak to their broker and they were most unhelpful when I tried to complain about the excess.  They have no pull and they can't change anything for you.

[daydream**believer]

joono- Hubby doesnt like Wesfarmers. He said they stall, have lots of extra paperwork and they dont let you pick where you want your car repaired. In his opinion that take the cars to dodgy shops