Which Insurance company are you with?

[MurphyTheElf]

OK, I've had all manner of problems with insurance companies today. Here is a rundown:

Volkswagen Insurance (Allianz underwritten)

• Increased my policy by 20%, despite no change of circumstance, claims or offences
• Strictly no modifications to the car allowed
• Would not insure the car for any more than $49k, despite paying much more and insuring with them from new and having a "new for old" provision on the policy.

Shannons

Customer service rep told me to shop elsewhere because I don't qualify as an enthusiast - I'm not currently a member of a car club and have not made any modifications on the car. Membership of a forum doesn't count.

QBE

The rep was so inept, I didn't even get past the make and model of the car before becoming frustrated and taking another call. My frustration may have been compounded by the previous two companies.

RAC

Following a bit of a breather after the last phone call, I rang RAC WA, and boy.... do we have a winner? It took me 45 minutes to get the policy sorted but here it is:

• Open driver policy
• Choice of repairer
• Free glass replacement - 1 per year
• No claim bonus protection - 1 at fault claim per year
• Will allow performance upgrades without increase in policy price - I specified CAI and software upgrade and fully admitted they would increase car performance
• Insured car for my agreed value
• Based on regular drivers aged 29 and 32, both with clean history
• Living in "questionable" suburb, car parked in driveway
• Just over $1000

The most difficult part of this episode was getting insurance companies to recognise the value of the car due to options. With RAC, they would not go higher than a set base price, so I had to list every option including their value. I had to go back and forth with an underwriter for a while but they came back with a very good price. Volkswagen don't make this easy by having a very long and expensive options list.

Despite the difficulty, RAC get a big tick from me. I've also just changed my home, contents, and personal cover insurance over to them and saved about $250 per year.

[Corey_R]

RAC are a good company. In NSW they're NRMA. I've been very happy each time I've been with them, except they are the company that 3 months ago increased my premium by 33%. Just like your situation, no change of circumstance, claims or offences.

Shannons

Customer service rep told me to shop elsewhere because I don't qualify as an enthusiast - I'm not currently a member of a car club and have not made any modifications on the car. Membership of a forum doesn't count.

Shannons are a funny company. They are there for enthusiasts. However, they will insure your daily drive, but you must present yourself to them as an enthusiast and not talk to them like you would every other insurance company you wish to get a quote from. For example, tell them that you want a quote from them to cover your car as you'd like to start partaking in track days and add a few modifications. Talk to the guy or girl on the phone as if they were one of your mates and tell them about the mods and things like that.

Oh, and Shannons do House and Contents and greenslips etc too. (They don't advertise greenslips, but if you currently have Comprehensive, call them and ask them and they will give you the exact same price as GIO, but the advantage is it counts towards multi-policy discount etc).

But yeah - goes to show the importance of customer service and the randomness of insurance companies as to whether they currently want you as a customer or not

[Mountainman]

I just tried that Buzz site for both cars and house/contents and all quotes ended up being about $100 more each than our present insurer RACQ. It's hard to tell if they are giving discounts for things like age, gold card member, clean driving record & multi-policy discount. All those 5-10% discounts really do add up. Our car insurances have stayed very steady for years with RACQ but the house/contents have escalated onormously in the last 2 years and with no claims on anything. The last excuse was "huge claims for cyclones in NQ"!

[blanch0b]

Despite the difficulty, RAC get a big tick from me. I've also just changed my home, contents, and personal cover insurance over to them and saved about $250 per year.

Go RAC!! They just have better options, weird you had to individually list your add ons although they are insuring each add so it kinda makes sense.... My GTI is largely stock with some after market adds which i covered by upping the aggreed value. Its new car replacement is good too (for three years)

[MurphyTheElf]

Go RAC!! They just have better options, weird you had to individually list your add ons although they are insuring each add so it kinda makes sense.... My GTI is largely stock with some after market adds which i covered by upping the aggreed value. Its new car replacement is good too (for three years)

I initially thought of the new car replacement as a bonus, but now I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be. My old insurance policy was new for old, had all the options listed, but the insured value was $15k less than what I paid. Even with a 25% discount my car "like for like" could not be purchased for the sum insured. Plus, we're talking extremely high wait times for the Golf - very unlikely you'd get your exact car in any reasonable length of time assuming you have a couple of options tacked on. I'd prefer a payout for the full agreed value without the complication.

[blanch0b]

yea for that very reason i always insure drive away value with NO discounts (eg $5-7k over what I paid) that would cover those costs and you dont run the risk of not getting a discount and being out of pocket....

Either way its going to be a wait as Id still order a GTI (touch wood that that NEVER happens to any of us!) or perhaps i may change and upgrade to the R (put in the extra $$!) There generally pretty flexible with that sort of thing.

[peedman]

The way i see it is you would only get market value if you bought an optioned golf that is fairly common eg. with only 5 door, dsg, MDI. That way if it did come down to new for old replacement, you would be fairly sure that there would be a car in the country of that spec.

If you ordered your golf with a variety of options and your car got written off, then my take is that if the insurance company wanted to theyd just pay you out meaning you'd be out of pocket.

[Mr_Bob]

Shannons also offer discount if you have a CAMS license.
Was pretty substanital too, 20% from memory?
for me, it means they were basically the cheapest.

For my reasonably modified Forester, they were charging me $1100 after my discount,
It was the cheapest, but not by alot, I mainly chose them as the coverage was good and modifications didn't bother them
Earlier this year, it dropped to $700 for no apparent reason.

So i got a quote for the R and it was just over $1K,
I'm not going to bother checking anywhere else, and I'm confident the price is fair.
I've hated every other insurance company,

NRMA takes the cake...
They tried to cancel my insurance policy when someone else drove over a gutter and footpath and hit my parked car.
They made threats, and interrogated we for weeks because they thought my stereo was worth more than the agreed value.
Even if it was, and they were going to cancel my policy, why would they withhold the claim payout due to this, when it was agreed by all parties that i wasn't at fault?
I object to being treated like a criminal before they've checked their facts...
I was so angry with them i felt physically ill, and have vowed i would never go near them again, regardless of price.

They also determined that I was at fault in another collision, using a theory that contradicted the road rules
I wasn't wealthy enough to fight an insurance company,
With an attitude like that, it's no surprise the statistics show young people have more at fault claims!

[MIRSAD]

I am with VW Prestige (underwriter for Allianz)

My insurance is expiring on 30 Oct.

Originally they where asking for $182/month (combined for GTI and 90TSI with comfort package) which is 12% increase
After they transferred me to so called Customer Care premium was reduced to $174 - 7.2% more than last year.
For GTI ~ $950 ... it is cheaper then 90TSI (because my daughter is one of nominated drivers on 90TSI)

About agreed value ... when I was looking to insure Golf 2lFSI (after new car replacement period expired) maximum agreed value was set up by insurer and I was not allowed to insure it above that amount.

For me 3 years new car replacement is good option ... it is my understanding that PDS is stating that in the case of total w/off - if there is no Car available in Australia You will be paid out - market (in first 3 years new car) value... and if You are insured on agreed value You will be paid out agreed value ... in the year 3 I am not sure that agreed value can be high as "new car" value ... but maybe I am wrong.

If You are with Allianz it is not bad idea to speak with Allianz Customer Care (not sure is it their exact name but something like that) because they where able to reduce my first proposed insurance premium (for 90TSI by $300) in Dec last year when we nominated my daughter as 90TSI driver and again today by reducing increase from 12 to 7.2%

[Flighter]

I initially thought of the new car replacement as a bonus, but now I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be. My old insurance policy was new for old, had all the options listed, but the insured value was $15k less than what I paid. Even with a 25% discount my car "like for like" could not be purchased for the sum insured. Plus, we're talking extremely high wait times for the Golf - very unlikely you'd get your exact car in any reasonable length of time assuming you have a couple of options tacked on. I'd prefer a payout for the full agreed value without the complication.

Having benefitted from a replacement car clause recently, I decided that this feature is more significant than I had previously considered; so much so that I opted for a policy that gives me 3 years new-for-old this time around.