Hi all renewal time coming up, whats the OzBargainer's car insurer of choice? Coles is looking pretty cheap, what else are people using?
Cheapest car insurance?
lolmao on 08/02/2014 - 20:35
Comments
From quotes, I've found Progressive are usually cheap, but for some cars, Just Car Insurance is pretty cheap too. I haven't got the car yet, so I don't know how easy it is to claim.
I had an Toyota MR2 quoted for $1500 from Progressive, but only $900 by JustCar
I also quoted my parent's cars, a Camry and a Commodore, both of them were around a third of what they were paying with RAA.Also, not sure if this makes a difference, but in I called up the crash repair place we usually go to, and they said claims with RAA are the easiest, usually done within the day. All those larger brands, AAMI, Allianz, Suncorp, (JustCar and Progressive are included in this classification) etc are usually less than a week, and then you have the "El Cheapo" ones, like Bingle and Budget Direct which can take a couple weeks.
I'm not sure about Coles/Woolies, so you might need to ask someone.
I called up the crash repair place we usually go to
That doesnt sound all that great for getting cheap insurance deals, with a history like that….
I dont mean usually like every other week…
We just have one two blocks down, so easy walking distance to get the car. We've probably used them 3 or 4 times? They're pretty nice guys, do a good job, why go elsewhere?
My advice is to shop around, every year. Each person will say one place is the cheapest but it may not be for another person.
I changed from Youii last year, for 2 years they were the cheapest but hiked the cost up last year. I changed to Budget. Coles offered me $100 less than my current insurance but because it doesn't run out until April they said they couldn't honour the deal.
+1, you've gotta shop around every year!
Try bingle
+1 for Bingle
Bingle has horrible claim process, it's ok if u never have to claim.
I have claimed on a fender bender… it was not too bad but I had to wait 2 weeks for an appointment and a few days to get my car back. Don't expect to get your $500 upfront fee back anytime soon though because they will never ever say that they have claimed on the driver at fault. You have already saved that $500 anyway.
I recently switched to Woolies based on low km of driving.
bingle are the cheapest but i had issues when claiming with them that was a couple years ago.
i am now with CGU great prices and great service had 1 claim with no issues at all.
If u have a new car, look for an insurer that has full replacement for 2 YEARS at least (many only have 1 year) - from experience, it was worth every cent of the extra $250 I had to pay!!!!!!
I LOVE SHOPPING AROUND AS A PROUD OZBARGINER BUT…
Insurance is tricky and if you change policys every year to save money you will find that you will always be getting reduced returns as well as a cheaper policy.
+1 for agreed value
+1 for A1 rating (but this does you no good if moving insurers as they dont care what your rating was just years held and last claim FYI
+1 glass coverage with no reduction of N/C ratingroadside assistance is a must but often comes with services from dealers now for breakdowns
And dont lie about your last claim/fine, they have a shared database with insurers and police! They will just take your money and deny your claim (which is wrong)…
Yep, they do have a database much the same as your credit file…
http://www.myinsurancepassport.com.au/
Wasn't aware of this until I had a home building claim and Buzz (lol) quizzed me re two claims that's recorded on it for my car's extended warranty/insurance with Allianz.
Good info - never knew.
My only biff about it is the $29.95 to get a report done. Honestly it should be the same as the credit file public access - free. It was only $9.95 ~3 years ago.
Thank you; thumbs up for sharing. A "tad" expensive to see what is on file, which makes me wonder about Freedom of Information legislation; surely this information should be available free of charge to someone who meets identity criteria. A small "fee" perhaps for accessing the file, but time taken should be minimal with the correct information provided. I have actually just paid for this service but I don't expect to see anything there as I haven't made a claim, but just reported damage caused by others (which was just less than excess).
Not sure if private entities are covered under FOI legislation, I thought only govco are?
I suppose they can milk it for all they can and there's not a lot of competition out there unlike the credit files (there' Veda, D&B plus a few other mobs that does the same thing).
Report was interesting; nothing really unexpected. It actually showed some addresses from 20 years back (that I had forgotten … travelling a lot back then). Some of the insurance enquiries I had made to Youi showed but some of them were actually on behalf of my mother. It did show I did report an accident by other party (children), did not proceed with claim though (as it was minimal in regard to excess).
Actually even doctors' surgeries also have to follow FOI procedures for information, so I just guessed the legislation would cover any organisation that held your personal details. Credit reference associations also have to adhere to FOI; that I do know for certain. I don't know for sure about other organisations for certain though.
Unfortunately my credit card was debited twice (sams day/time) by Veda for this report; no luck getting a response from them as yet. Rang twice; once was for over an hour on Friday, but stuck in a queue and yet to speak to anyone. Sent two emails also; no response either.
Any other suggestions about what next to do?
Happy with the report but I want that refund for one of the debits.
After several attempts (waiting on the phone over an hour and emails) and not getting the opportunity to speak with anyone at Veda I rang the Bank and they said they would clear the duplicate debit for me. Did so within 24 hours; Which Bank? Commonwealth. Well, I believe in giving a good rap when one is due.
moved from Budget to Coles and saved hundreds.
Unfortunately for Coles I had a claim in 1st year. No dramas at all.
On renewal, I checked out Woolies (because of the 4c/l extra off petrol would equate to saving $100+ per year, and local woolies servo is more convenient) Coles was still cheaper, so have stayed with coles.PS Claim was for damage to another bogun vehicle, there was no damage to mine - so cant vouch for repair procedure/time.
I'm still not sold on the 4c/l game. All my local ones are slowest to drop the price, and quick to raise. Others are almost always the same/cheaper final price… without any vouchers.
My cousin and I have always found Progressive to be the cheapest. He had to claim with them last year and he found the process straight forward. The repairer was good except that he had to drive a bit to get there.
I shop around each and every year at renewal time. Started with AAMI, then switched to Budget for several years but now I have been with Youi for at least three-four years. When the invoice comes due I always ring them to see if I can have them reconsider the premium and they do. My original invoice this year, after being $420 last year became $1,200 this year as I added my 19 year old learner driver to the list of regular drivers. After the call the premium is now $859.39. I did decide to remove from the list of drivers my mother (85 yo) and I think that had most of the impact on the reduction. My excess on the policy is the same $750 (I think), which actually means I missed claiming twice for damage (caused by children no less) which was less than that. Was a no hassle, quick assessment at a reputable repairer when I considered claiming although I have an excellent driving record. Currently driving an 02 Holden Vectra, garaged (makes a difference to your premium) etc. If you ring Youi, ask to speak to someone else to see if they can do a better price for you. I have no hesitation in recommending them.
If you decide to go with Budget check Ozbargain forums, as other OZbargainers offering $50 discounts if you follow their referral process too. This is the link I found:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/129507
I also found they offered the best premiums for my mothers car and her house insurances, so I have happily in fact recommended them to others before. Certainly ring around and ask those questions!
Edit: Should have stated that my mother found Youi gave the best quotes for her premiums; she was with APIA before. I also ring around for her each time the premiums fall due.
With Youi the agreed value we use is Market Value, but you can have this increased for your vehicle if you do not agree with this. Just another thing to question and agree to.
You don't have to add learner drivers to policies. Atleast with most you don't, they also pay the standard excess.
On my Youi policy there is a standard excess of $750, which is why I haven't bothered with the minor (neighbours children's bikes) incidents, nuisance as it is. The parents don't take responsibility for their own children so what do you do? My renewal cost $859.39 this year, would have been $225.54 on my own but $633.85 added to cover my son (so just over $10 per week for him).
Best to list drivers as there are additional excesses of $650 for unlisted drivers aged 25+, but $2,000 additional excess if unlisted driver is under 25. It is only a phone call to add or remove a listed driver if the need arises. In my situation I thought better to have him on the listed drivers, so we only have the $750 excess to pay if he is responsible for an accident. Nothing worse than people being delayed with their car repairs because others are not fully comprehensively insured. When I made some calls I couldn't find any insurance premiums that would be under $1,000, let alone with such a small excess in retrospect. You can opt to pay more to Youi and have the excesses removed, but I am quite happy paying the extra $600pa to be fully covered whilst he is driving.
Every year I always find Allianz to be the cheapest plus I get:
- choice of repairer
- free 24 hr roadsideI've claimed with them for a rear ender. Not my fault. They only called me once to check for any more details on the guy and that was it. I never needed to get quotes. Went to the best repairer in town and I never paid a cent (Allianz paid the repairer directly).
On asking a respected repairer for their recommendation they said Allianz is the easiest to deal with and stay clear of AAMI and anyone else who doesn't let you choose repairer.
Yes…stay clear of AAMI. We were with AAMI years ago. A Coles truck crashed into our car which was parked outside our house at the time. When the tow truck came, the tow truck driver told me to change my insurer when the car is fixed. 'Anyone…as long as it's not AAMI'. AAMI took 3 weeks to fix the car, delay after delay…it was a bloody nightmare.
We changed to GIO afterwards. Choice of repairer, everything good. Also discount with combined house insurance.
Having said that, I haven't shop around for insurance for at least 5 years… I think I should do some homework before dishing out advice. Will look into Allianz.Allianz might be cheap for plain jane appliance cars but anything a little exotic/weird/expensive, they generally either refused to provide cover or priced it out of the earth to deter people from purchasing the cover at all.
Try Shannons for exotic. They had a very similar quote to Allianz
Mixed experience with them so far. Got a laid up cover and building policy with them.
Tried coles for a Toyota aurion which I had insured with Suncorp, coles was expensive and I was not able to get the value insured on the online quote. Should have tried Allianz and youi as well
I always shop around each year, some of the cheaper companies have lots of exclusions….or the agreed valuation of your vehicle can be lot lower than a more reputable company. Read the small print and don't get caught out. At the end of the day you want a company that is easy to deal with and wont screw you over if you have to claim. I have had a quote from Coles (overseas call centre), they are very hard sell and kept calling me for weeks after wards until I put in a formal complaint.
hello lolmao; i have shopped around and; apia.com.au is the cheapest car insurance; and there greenslips are a fantastic price as well; i hope that i have been some help for you; col
No choice of repairer - they are effectively AAMI. They say that you can get a quote from your choice of repairer, but their repairer is always cheaper, so you effectively have no choice. Poor repair standards, no requirement for OEM parts etc, lots of complaints about poor repair outcomes… The cheapest quote is irrelevant when it comes to a claim!
You should only pay any attention to those who have had a claim & how promptly/fairly/quality of repair for the claim. Getting a cheap quote is easy - having a good outcome on a repair is the real test!!!!
As a generalisation….the cheap end of the market are really difficult to deal with when you have a claim, lots of fine print & exclusions. Usually no choice of repairer (they send you to the cheapest/crappiest repairer), no requirement to use original parts or even new parts!!!.
IMO it is worth paying a bit more and having an easy claim - when you have a stack, it is very disruptive to your life & the last thing you want is a major battle over the claim/repair. You mostly get what you pay for - buyer beware!!!!I found Woolworths Car Insurance to be the cheapest, pay by the month (just in case you find a better deal) and if you dont travel much, its even cheaper.. and I think you get a $100 fuel card too!
I did a comparison between NRMA, AAMI and Progressive.
Progressive came out on top, $300 cheaper than NRMA and $210 cheaper than AAMI.
So many variables at play on this topic, however the savings with Progressive were pretty amazing for me.
I used to have car insurance with Australia Post but when our 16 year old son got his learners permit last year and ALL the bargain car insurance companies wanted to up our premium by nearly $2000 to allow him to drive the car. I ended up with RACV who were far cheaper than all the "cheap" insurance companies and dont need him listed on the policy as he is a learner and always has a licenced driver supervising him. And we only have to pay the normal excess if he has an accident. All the cheap companies wanted him listed on the policy and we would have to pay huge excesses as well as the giant premiums. $2500 versus $1100 premium RACV got our vote. All I am saying is be careful what you are covered for…
Money Magazine says: Budget Direct
Cheapest Home & Contents Insurance
Cheapest Car Insurancehttp://www.budgetdirect.com.au/about-us/media-releases/2013/…
Budget have a 20% discount at the moment.
- They all play a ton of games these days. If you don't play, you get stung.
- Every year, you need to argue/bargain again.
- Know exactly what's covered when comparing, and use that to bargain.
- The squeaky wheel gets the oil!
- Ask about your cooling-off period, and don't get punked.
Despite all that, you could still get great or crap service, when it comes to making a claim. High premiums do not guarantee smooth claims. Started 3 policies & made 2 claims in the last month (family members). Never fun.
You don't have to wait till your current policy expires to shop for a new one.
If you're pay by the month - simple.
If you've paid annually, get a refund and switch.
All my policies don't align with the rego date for this reason…in fact it helps me as everything (rego/insurance) don't come in at once.
Cheapest car insurance?
None at all/Self-insure.
How do you think insurance companies make money? Their policies are very poor value.
Save your premiums and invest them in a liquid asset. You'd have to be a horrendous driver for an insurance policy to be good value. And in that case you just shouldn't be driving.
Insurance is cheap when you need it, more often than not it's expensive because you don't need it.
Unless you have a fair bit of coins and a large fleet of cars to spread this cash around, self insure isn't really worthwhile…then again if you're penniless, bankruptcy proceeding is indeed cheaper than insurance these days.
I'm a very good driver, but even I make mistakes. I have an insurance policy not just to protect me, but to protect others too. It's part of being a responsible person.
a few years ago I was with NRMA after they had an offer to beat any quote by 10%. got a ridiculously low quote from progessiveonline and NRMA beat it by 10%. the next year when my renewal came up they sent me a quote and it was almost double. I rang them and asked why they couldn't do a similar price and they said something about queensland floods, blah, blah. So i went with progressive.
Youi quotes are always expensive and the bloke in the ads gives me the sh!ts.
A NOTE ON NEW INSURANCE…
If you can get someone (a car dealer) to SLASH the profit they make on selling car insurance (which is often a nessisity with the purchase of a car on terms) you can save as much as 30-40%!!!
eg; bought a demo cruize (go ozzie while you can) and got top suncorp comp for <$500 with glass & lifetime new for old (which is the best insurance ever) but at full website RRP it was around $900!!!
Insurance has huge commissions and even trailing commission that your never told about!!! You dont have to pay it, you can neg a better deal as well as use a broker that may split, rebate or just save you the HUGE markup on buying a policy… I know my dealer did right by me but then ive bought lots of cars now and am pretty much a dab hand at saving at every step…
good luck to OZB, just thought i would share…
Thanks guys, ended up with Woolworths.. A bit cheaper than Coles after limiting as I limited my km's to 10,000 and comes with free roadside assist for the first year.
depends on your age. Coles if you are over 30 does price match and more, plus you get a small benefit you can earn 1 EXTRA POINT per $1 you spend at Coles Supermarkets.
When you "price match make sure its the same excesses being applied. When I checked Coles was $650 vs the competitors $600. I mentioned this and they matched the $600.
But like all these deals at renewal time you need to check prices again. I have done Coles-Woolies-Coles
the last 3 years.