I just bought a car few days ago and was looking at various insurance company and i am at lost for it. Can anyone help what should i look for in case of accidents? Prefer the comprehensive ones as this is my first car - gotta give it more love ;)
Anyone can recommend a good company with ease of claiming etc? Appreciate your kind inputs.
Kind regards.
AAMI and Youi were really good to us when claiming, was quick and easy. Coles and woolies are cheap but took 3 months for woolies to approve a claim and Coles is still ongoing. I wouldn't go near Coles/Woolworths for any insurances again
Serial claimer?
Nah, hail damage to all our cars back in December
Congrats on your new car.
Good luck
Thanks vinni :)
You're welcome :-)
Have never gotten a discount when calling after an online quote. Am I doing something wrong or have these insurers caught on? Does this work on CTP greenslip?
Yes. Hence the advice. For me it was AAMI.
It depends on the Insurance company.
However this is my philosophy of all online companies that have bricks and mortar stores here.
For example, I wanted to purchase some Gym equipment for home use. Online store quoted $599 but I called them and they said that they can sell it for $500.
$100 saving for a 2 min phone call :-)
Cheers
Look at the majors, have it insured before you leave the yard (just call them before leaving with details).
AAMI; NRMA, QBE, GIO, etc.
^ This. Please make sure it's insured before you pick up the car.
Yep, this is great advice. Start with a major company and then you are away. You can shop and haggle once you've got you car and are insured. Worst case is you end up paying a little extra while you work out the best deal for you.
You can even get a 2 week insurance policy for free if you choose "pay later" on the website
(In the event of a claim during this time, you must pay the premium first)
This is just so you can have an insured first drive home without committing anything.
Best is to do various quotes online and see which insurer is cheapest/priced most competitively.
Before you select the cheapest, here are some additional information you might want to consider:
* The amount of excess. The higher the excess, the lower your premium will be. However, you'll have to pay more out of pocket in the case of an accident where you are at fault.
* Whether a choice of repairer is important to you (for me personally, this is a must)
* Windscreen / hire car cover. Some insurers throw in windscreen cover for free.
* New-for-old replacement. This would apply to you as it is a new car. I assume most insurers would have this for new cars, but best to check and confirm
If you don't intend to drive the car a lot, some insurers like Woolworths have lower premiums if you do not go over a certain mileage each year.
https://www.sira.nsw.gov.au/insurance-coverage/CTP-insurance… is good to compare green slip prices
There is no government-run comparison site for comprehensive that I am aware of, only commision / advertising driven ones. They might be sort of useful but take everything they present with a grain of salt and cross-check it.
Sometimes it is cheaper to bundle comprehensive and green slip together but not always, so you may have to research both thoroughly.
OP, don't confuse Greenslip with 'real' insurance. Greenslip will not cover your own car, not damage to someone else's property (vehicle, fence etc)
true, but you need both, and should research the best price on both, not just focus on comprehensive and assume greenslip will follow along.
If the car is registered, the greenslip is sorted. You've can't drive registered car without a greenslip.
Really the comprehensive insurance (or Third Party Property) are insurance and the greenslip is an additional rego fee. the fact it is called insurance confuses people (simple people) thinking they are covered when they aren't.
I think Toni is confused between third party property and greenslip. Which is an easy mistake to make.
@Quantumcat: Only half the comment was about greenslips, but I did mean greenslip.
Some insurers give you a loyalty discount on your comprehensive if you already have your greenslip with them. Some do not. If you are considering comprehensive, it is a relevant issue to consider who the greenslip is with, and if you would renew with that company or change.
@toniyellow: I don't think it is possible to buy the greenslip with comprehensive as a package because it would need to be registered to have insurance (? I think?) and you have to have a greenslip already to have it registered
@Quantumcat:
They word the "discount" along the lines of "$XX off if you are an existing customer with a current eligible policy". So the policies don't need to be purchased at the same time.
I use quotation marks around the word "discount" above because it's usually quite insignificant and I wouldn't let such a small amount sway my decision to go with another insurer.
@bobbified: Toni was suggesting comprehensive might come with greenslip, not buying comprehensive after already having the greenslip
It seems as though you have already taken delivery of your car, so my first point of advice would be: Do not drive it - at all - until it is insured.
Comprehensive with any major insurer is the way to go. When I looked Allianz seemed to be the best for inexperienced drivers (I am assuming you are since it is your first car). As always, get quotes, read the PDS and compare.
Been driving for donkey years actually. First time buying a car for myself as before this was driving my partner's care. LOL. ITs a second hard car though but i want to give it extra lurrrvee
How much is it worth, and can you afford to replace it? If it is a low value car and you have the means to replace it, you might be able to give it extra love by saving on comprehensive insurance and going third party property only. Then you can put the saved coin into other lurrrvee items like good tyres, premium oil etc.
I owned a car that I bought for $8k. TPP only as I hadn't been in a crash for a long time and figured I could either repair cheaply myself or replace if someone uninsured hit it. Saved over $2k while I had it, but I was protected in case I reversed into a Merc or something else dumb but expensive.
I agree. I bought a car for $8k about 6 years ago. Only bought TPP. The car is now probably worth next to nothing (maybe $2-3k) and I have saved about $5k in insurance premiums. The amount I have saved would be almost enough to replace the car if I wrote it off.
If you need to drive it now and don't have time to do the research, find an insurer that does pay by the month and insure it NOW!. You can cancel once you decide on your long-term insurer and you are not out-of-pocket by very much, if at all.
The big thing is do not drive without insurance, EVER, third party property at a minimum - just take a look at the forums here for so many sob stories of people without insurance.
Just repeating to reinforce:
DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR WITHOUT INSURANCE.
You are so boring, having a accident without insurance will get you a chance to ask Ozb for advice? :)
Good point, what was I thinking. Ignore that advice and come back here when it all goes pear shaped.
I have claimed multiple times with RACV/NRMA over the years (at least 6 or 7 times - at fault, not at fault, written off twice, etc) and they've been very easy to deal with each time. I've never had a problem. They are probably one of the more expensive ones but if you can't claim on the cheaper ones, are they really better value?
were you the stunt driver for fast and furious or something? geez
I only flipped the one car… the rest were more mundane ;)
your insurance is cost more than the car
Wow, you are a pro, you should write your own blog, how to claim ;)
edit: maybe, you are the Mr Captain Risky, who got refused by Budget Direct!
I'm with RACV. I've only heard from friends that they are easy to deal with but I haven't made any claim myself.
Probably not the cheapest one out there but just for a peace of mind.
Watch out for the cheap ones there are usually some special terms, for example, you have to go to their designated repairer
And DO NOT drive the car without insurance
Remember that cheapest isn't the best.
Stick with a large well-known insurer (even it it turns out to be a little more expensive) to avoid the risk of having to jump through hoops when you need to make a claim.
I just bought a car
How much did you pay?
About $7k. Second hand. More than 10 years. Very very low mileage. Well serviced and maintained. Really good buy/value.
I really don't think a $7000 car is worth comprehensively insuring. Just get third party property.
It honestly depends on the car. Mine is insured for about 6k, but the difference between tpp and comp was low enough to justify for peace of mind.
@819mac: It doesn't really depend on the car - it depends on the value of the car. I'd be interested to know what your comprehensive premiums and excess are that made you decide it was worthwhile comprehensively insuring something worth $6000.
@johnno07:
I could be mistaken, but I thought the car has an impact as different cars generally get into different sorts of trouble.
I don't have the exact numbers, but I remember at the time the difference between comp and third party was less than $200, which I can swing. However, for me, $6000 is a lot of money, and if something should happen to my car where I am deemed to be at fault (e.g. hitting a roo, which has nearly happened a few times to me), I would not be able to afford to replace it. I hope one day to replace it with a 80k high yield investment but for now it is a necessity that I can't afford to lose.
@819mac: either you have astronomically cheap comprehensive insurance, or you were looking at the wrong TPP!
Opt for an agreed value policy, not market value.
Yeah. That’s what I intend to do.
Thanks for this just checked and the covers come cheaper for both out family cars! I will sign up first car use the ozbargain and when using for second one so will get my partner to refer me. Fingers crossed we get that discount too :)
I’m currently with youi, their customer service is good but I haven’t made a claim. I was with Coles in 2011 when my car was hail damaged, they wrote off the car and paid the claim.
CGU have a great package at a great price, even cheaper if you are a low k driver
Assume you haven't already picked up car. As you should already habe insurance organised on driving away from dealer. Had a friend who dtove it out of lot and within 30min was in an accident.
Also when looking try config to see if you can use a relatives address. Insurance premiums are based on suburbs claims not just your no claims record. Also if you can use highest excess as long as you feel you wont have to claim. Big saving there.
As you should already habe insurance organised on driving away from dealer.
It's a shame that Australian insurance companies no longer offer cover notes that were good for taking delivery of vehicles.
(Although, I couldn't see any benefit in the companies offering it in the first place)
Last time I rang up and organised insurance I didn't need to pay on the spot. That's pretty much a cover note.
Was that a while ago? I haven't bought a car for a while. I remember it was only recently that I read that the companies don't offer that anymore - I have no idea when it changed.
@bobbified: Not that long ago, and it was with a company I'd been with for a while if I recall correctly.
Still, if you are buying a car you need to have the cash ready for the insurance straight away, so there isn't any real reason not to pay on the spot. You should also be able to do a quick search and comparison of a few of the regular companies between when you pick the car and when you pick it up. It's not like the old days when you had to go and visit and office or spend hours on the phone to get a quote. You can get an online quote in a few minutes, and multiple in an hour or so.
@bobbified:
Works with AAMI still
They give you a month to pay, but your coverage starts as soon as you take out the policy.
Did it In March for a new policy
Best advice is to get on the web and start comparing… it's tedious I know! I purchased at the start of the year and found over $800 difference between insurers for full comp! I ended up w huddle w agreed value, low km and pay by the month at no extra cost. They also have a great referral program and new insurers can get a $50 off referral as per link on John Kimble's post above - Good luck!
Did this last month. Just gotta compare online like on iSelect.
If you're under time pressure, there is a mandatory 14 day cooldown period and the insurer will refund you if you cancel within that period (not sure the full amount for all insurers). Budget Direct's policy is 21 days and it's definitely a full refund. At least this way, it gives you a few more weeks to do some more shopping around.
Isn't it the norm to get into an accident(your fault of course), ask for advice on ozbargain and then consider getting insurance?
This is very unorthodox
I recently insured my second hand Peugeot RCZ with Bupa car insurance. I shopped around and didn't even know they offered it.
Haven't had to make a claim now or ever but they were a lot cheaper than the others. If its anything like their health insurance, should be fairly safe.
Includes no excess windscreen replacement which is nice.
My advice re insurance is to play around with the excess. When i increase my excess by $1000 i save around $300 in premium, meaning so long as I claim less than once every 3.33 years I'm better off with a higher excess. Same with house insurance. Of course only do this if you're OK to pay $1500 in one go if you donhave to claim…
depends how good of a driver you are and financial situation, like wanting to be a bludger till end of life or considering home ownership. In that case 3rd pty is essential.
Combining might give rebates.
7k is a critical point, some old cars cost 4 times as much as new ones I would just buy 3rd party.
Automobile clubs are generally dearer but easier to really understand what happens in traffic.
AAmi used to be by far the best until Suncorp bought them, now they are a very brutal money making machine, read their endless pdf and if you really understand you will know what you are up to.
Anything Suncorp has become less customer friendly, had one of our 2 vehicles rammed in shopping car park, few grands of damage but Suncorp gave me the run around trying to force me to pay 500 bucks first and make a declaration that I was at fault till the other party pays and maybe they wipe my bad driving record. I was not even there when the car got damaged!
Most useless and criminal: Cominsure!
good luck
Don't go AAMI. Just do not go AAMI. I cannot stress enough that you should not go with AAMI.
13 repairs between four separate repairers over the course of 9 months before my car was repaired to an acceptable standard. Stupid shit, like screws removed from trim panels and not replaced, ridiculous amounts of overspray and in one instance a colour match that was so far off when I went to pick up the car, outside, at dusk, I could spot how massive the difference was.
Don't go with AAMI. If it was an issue with one repairer, I'd be forgiving, but four repairs and 13 attempts indicates that there's something inherently broken with the way they work.
Thanks a lot guys for your inputs. I’ve gone With GIO instead as the previous owner was with them and if I go with them, they’ll give a multi policy discounts and all with roadside assist etc. quite happy with the quote and they gave the agreed value on the car instead of market value.
Appreciate all of your feedbacks and views and recommendations. I’m humbled and overwhelmed by the help you all gave. Thanks!
S.
Well anything full comp from a major company….. Avoid anything that pitches itself as budget or cheap.