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Insurance (House & Car); Some pitfalls to be aware of......
Topic Started: May 16 2006, 11:30:19 AM (585 Views)
Flying Banana
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Garnet (Regular Member)
Hopefully this might be of interest to some of you out there;

When I first arrived I only needed car insurance so shopped around, RACV came in nearly $200 less than the next nearest quote which was from AAMI.

BEWARE: Fully comp car insurance over here doesn't give you automatic windscreen cover, it cost about $45 to add with RACV, AAMI don't do it in Victoria at the moment. I had a windscreen broken which, from friends, I understand is a fairly common occurence over here especially if you drive out of the cities regularly (As it happened mine got broken on a city freeway). As a rough guide a new OEM screen for a bog standard Holden Commodore would set you back about $1000 so worth the extra $45 methinks.

As AAMI had been more on the car I never even got a quote off of them for contents insurance whilst renting and just went with RACV as they give a 10% discount for combined insurance. Nearly had a heart attack when I had to cough up $1100 for the year just for contents.

Now I'm just about to move into my new house I did shop around, for buildings and contents, RACV quote was $1400. Gave AAMI a try and had to phone up to double check their online quote, even after adding some specified items (see below) they came in at $529 so you can guess who I have chosen.

BEWARE: You have to specify individual items over a certain amount which varies from insurer to insurer. Items which need to be specified are things like jewelry, collections of things - ie CD's, I've got just over 500 of the things and had quite a shock when i totalled up how much they were worth.

Also the premium is discounted/not loaded (whichever way you want to look at it) if you have; window locks, deadlocks on ALL external doors, alarm, CCTV etc.

And one which might catch out the unwary Pom or two, Aussie contents insurance does not cover you for accidental damage to electrical equipment/appliances etc, so if 'Little Johnny' decides to chuck a glass of Milo down the back of your brand new plasma screen selling the little bugger off to medical research is probably the only way to get it replaced with no cost.

I think I've learned now with all these things like insurance etc is to ask every single 'daft' question under the sun as what you take for granted coming from the UK might not be the same here and could put a big dent in your pocket if you're not aware of it.
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moneypen20
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Bond's Beaut Bombshell

Still haven't sorted contents yet. Must do it as soon as. Shame about accidental damage though - that's a handy one to have. We've got the cars with NRMA and tried their online quote for contents - had to go through pages and pages of stuff working out what we had and didn't have - took about 2 hours :o got to the end and a bloody sodding page came up saying "sorry our system is f***ed at the moment, come back some other time - agggghhhhhhh.
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ABCDiamond
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We had our Cars and Property with NRMA, but switched to AAMI this year and saved a packet :)
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ABCDiamond
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Flying Banana
16th May, 2006 - 11:30am
Aussie contents insurance does not cover you for accidental damage to electrical equipment/appliances etc, so if 'Little Johnny' decides to chuck a glass of Milo down the back of your brand new plasma screen selling the little bugger off to medical research is probably the only way to get it replaced with no cost.

A quote from the St George "DragonDirect" Home Insurance policy:
Quote:
 
Imagine that your new television is dropped or your display cabinet is tipped over when you rearrange the lounge room. Envision what would happen if a child knocks over a special vase. Consider the damage from a glass of red wine spilt on a light carpet.

Protect Accidental Damage Home Insurance covers you against these risks and more.
You will receive coverage against all risks to your home and contents, other than those that are specifically excluded from the Protect Accidental Damage Home Insurance policy.



Some Insurers will provide optional "Accidental Damage" cover, some others don't.

I remember that Sun Alliance & Royal Insurance, in the UK, were always the best for that type of cover, but also the highest premiums :)

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moneypen20
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Bond's Beaut Bombshell

We had brilliant cover in the UK with (originally) Bank of Scotland - always really reasonable, great cover, and great at paying out. Never mind!
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Hevs
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Miraculous Mamma Mod

ALSO!!

I have taken the insurance off of Matts car at the mo and AAMI don't do just a fire and theft cover. They seemed puzzeled when i asked about it!

They will cover it for theft for up to $5000! Great, seeing as the cars worth about $26 grand!

So we are using a crook lock thing :unsure:
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Flying Banana
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Hevs
16th May, 2006 - 10:28pm
ALSO!!

I have taken the insurance off of Matts car at the mo and AAMI don't do just a fire and theft cover. They seemed puzzeled when i asked about it!

They will cover it for theft for up to $5000! Great, seeing as the cars worth about $26 grand!

So we are using a crook lock thing :unsure:

Crook Lock eh? Now where in Berwick did you say you were :wink: :D

I'll look after it for you (as long as it is an 'Olden and not one of those shonky Fords hehe). Sorry Hevs been a bit out of the loop for a while, how is Matt coming along, hope it's going OK for you all.

Just a thought if you want to immobilise the car to stop a casual thief driving off in it you could look in the fuse box and pull the fuse for something like the ignition or the fuel pump, won't stop anyone too determined for that long but better than trusting a crook lock.


Interesting ABCDiamond, I never thought of trying St George DOH! Seems most of the bigger insurers either won't do accidental damage or charge a fair bit for the cover. Whoever you go with it has to be better than paying an arm and a leg to RACV though!!

(Still prefer the idea of selling the kids off for medical research - if you do it before buying the plasma screen that would pay for it and 100% definitely no chance of them damaging it then - am I giving away the fact I don't have kids at the moment lol!)
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Hevs
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Miraculous Mamma Mod

Not in Berwick :P

The cars got no petrol in it. We actually thought of taking the wheels off and putting it up on bricks :lol:

I'll have a peek at the fuses (OMG!! what have you done!!)

Matts got a ways to go, 6 to 12 months minimum before he can drive work etc, but he is slowly improving. Hopefully i won't kill him before he gets chance to improve fully <_< :lol:
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moneypen20
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Bond's Beaut Bombshell

Just checked the quote we got from Sun Corp for contents, they offer accidental damage on their policy.
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Suncorp are one of the more consistent ones over the years. They don't quibble the pay-outs anywhere near as much as some others do.

I've worked adjacent to insurance companies for many, many years in Queensland and have seen some of them wriggle out of paying up on the finest of legal technicalities. There are certainly a few which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole! :eek:


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lesleys
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18th May, 2006 - 06:47pm

Suncorp are one of the more consistent ones over the years.  They don't quibble the pay-outs anywhere near as much as some others do.

I've worked adjacent to insurance companies for many, many years in Queensland and have seen some of them wriggle out of paying up on the finest of legal technicalities.  There are certainly a few which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole! :eek:



:rolleyes:

Our contents is with Aus Unity. Should we consider a review? :unsure: :unsure:
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lesleys
18th May, 2006 - 10:51am
ProofReader
18th May, 2006 - 06:47pm

Suncorp are one of the more consistent ones over the years.  They don't quibble the pay-outs anywhere near as much as some others do.

I've worked adjacent to insurance companies for many, many years in Queensland and have seen some of them wriggle out of paying up on the finest of legal technicalities.  There are certainly a few which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole! :eek:



:rolleyes:

Our contents is with Aus Unity. Should we consider a review? :unsure: :unsure:


That's not one of the ones I know much about, Lesley. Haven't heard of any horror stories about them at least. :dunno:


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lesleys
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:greet: :)
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Hevs
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Miraculous Mamma Mod

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18th May, 2006 - 06:47pm
There are certainly a few which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole! :eek:


[/color]

C'mon then spill <_< :lol:
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ProofReader
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My knowledge may very well be out of date, so I'm uncomfortable about naming. I worked in a motor vehicle insurance related job in the late 70s to mid 80s, so for cars that's a long time ago now.

For up to date advice on car insurance, see Choice Magazine's tips. They also discuss health insurance, life cover and a few others, but not house/contents insurance.

On the house insurance side of things, I've seen quite a bit of litigation throughout the 80s, 90s and early this century. The best thing you could do would be to look up your insurer on the Australasian Legal Information Institute's website to get an idea of the sort of claims they wriggle out of. :rolleyes:

Have a read through the Insurance Reform Campaign's 'Complaints Bulletin Board' - some interesting stuff there! There was also quite a good article in the Sydney Morning Herald in September last year about various insurances.

For 'odd' insurance (travel, car rental excess, mobile phones, pets, funerals, alien abduction, body parts, croc attack, etc.) see this article from Choice Magazine which discusses and gives a verdict on which ones are ok and which are "junk".

Basically, when it comes to insurance of any type, the best things you can do are, firstly, READ the small print on the policy and, secondly, RESEARCH your chosen insurer. With the search engines available online these days, research is relatively easy - anyone can look them up. If you don't understand your insurance policy or other documents/reports, seek legal advice.

I know this all sounds very 'stern' (unintentionally) but it really does matter when it comes to making a claim.


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Hevs
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Miraculous Mamma Mod

Thanks love :)
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