Car is worth around 20-25k
Currently only drive to work around 5km from home. Never had an accident.
Comprehensive ~ $1500
Third party fire and theft ~ $550 or possible $275 if AAMI is still offering the half price deal.
Third Party or Comprehensive?
[Deactivated] on 03/10/2020 - 12:07
Poll Options
- 285Comprehensive
- 19Third Party fire and theft
Comments
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If you don’t get full comprehensive you’re mad.
As others have said you can boost the excess to bring down premiums. Often the drop in premium isn’t hugely different for the amount extra for the excess, so you’re ahead if you don’t claim, and barely behind if you do.
Lol.
I had the same conundrum. In the end I found I find it better to have comprehensive.
Mainly cos my car is a big carnival so a lot of times now (5) I’ve had people scratch me in those car parking lots and run off.Do you claim on your insurance for each scratch?
Waiting for the 11th month of my insurance to make one claim on the areas most affected that I can get away with in one claim.
Get comprehensive insurance even if you have to pay in monthly installments. $20-$25k is still quite a big sum if you had to replace it.
I switched to third party insurance after I paid off my car. Couple of months after it was written off while it was parked on the side of the road. The driver was drunk, non aust citizen and had no insurance. At the time my car was worth about $12k. Had to sell it to the wreckers for nothing. You just don't when you will run into idiots. Better that your insurance company deal with them than you.
That is more than 2 of my comprehensive insurance policies combined (2018 Mazda and 2006 Honda), 42 M, in Melbourne
Insurance is expensive for males under 25 and for good reason… on average young males are far more reckless drivers than older males (and females). I always felt this was unfair until I passed this age (25) and realised that I was a bit of an idiot when i was younger…. Not saying that OP is a hoon, just pointing out that you cannot compare a 42 year old insurance price to a 23 year old. Statistically the odds are against males under 25.
Yeah I get this, I can't blame the insurance companies, only people my age. They just price on statistics. Definitely not a hoon and try to practice safe driving (i.e never speeding, keeping left, letting others overtake me).
How much liquid assets do you have to replace the car if its a total write off or pay for major repairs? Insurance are a tax on poor people.
Can definitely afford another car if I somehow lose this one
Can you afford the time and possibly legal fees to chase the scum who hit your car and ran off, or says you're at fault?
Yeah you're right, probably a massive headache if that happens. Thanks
my comprehensive with bingle is about $600.
Neither. Otherwise you'll be taking valuable traffic away from Ozb when you have an accident
You are a great driver, you don't need insurance.
I can provide anecdotal evidence as to why everyone should have comprehensive insurance. January 2019 on way home from work had a medical issue that caused me to black out and consequently ended up with significant injuries now not driving and have mobility issues with walking with an aid long distances. I had a cheap Hyundai Getz comprehensively insured and as I found out after 6 months in hospital I had drifted into the lane coming towards me. Thank god for comprehensive insurance as there was damage to 2 other cars. In the blink of an eye life has profoundly changed for me forever. Please people comprehensive insurance can save you significant stress if you are unlucky like me and end up very significantly impacted by a bad car accident. I would not wish on anyone what happened to me and I’m still in rehab almost 2 years later. Life is getting better which is good.
Sorry to hear about that and hope you recover back to 100% soon. It's good general advice but bear in mind insurance is about mitigating your risk, which different people have different thresholds for acceptable risks.
For some, saving insurance costs over time is a risk worth taking. I've saved $6,000 in 3 years not paying for comprehensive and OK with the risk that any damage to my vehicle would come out of my own pocket (pretty much have to anyway as barely anyone insures offroading damage). Medical expenses are covered by private insurance if required.
I suppose, as the saying goes, insurance is a waste of money until you really really need it…
Third party would have been cheaper and had the same outcome.
Third party would have covered this as well.
I hope you were able to access some income protection insurance through your super. That sounds rough :(
Whatever you end up getting, get a quality dash cam anyway, makes a whole lot easier to prove your claim (if you're not at fault).
I have what is now a shit box and still go with comprehensive. (2005 Falcon Wagon). What I'm paying for is the insurance company to chase up the other party on my behalf if my car is damaged. Often with 3rd party if someone damages your car you're left chasing it, and without the backing of an insurance company the hassle is huge. I'm looking at the difference between what I would pay for 3rd party and what I pay for comprehensive when I decide, not the full cost of comprehensive, because going without at least 3rd party is asking to go broke if you are in an accident. Plenty of examples have been posted on Ozbargain with the poor sap that was uninsured asking for advice.
This. A few years back I had 2 very similar not at fault accidents where people drove into the rear of my car when it was stationary at a set of red lights. Both cars that drove into me were quite new SUVs and not cheap looking (one porsche and one land rover). Anyway, I found out six months after one of those accidents (when doing the annual shop around for best value insurance) that the insurer was still chasing up one of those people to pay up, they had stopped responding to all communications and sounded like they were going to start legal proceedings. They said "but you don't need to worry about that, it's our problem". Instead I had my car fixed in a week and never had to worry about it again. So this is definitely an under appreciated benefit of comprehensive insurance.
Out of interest, how did you find out the Insurance was still chasing them for money?
You normally get an email notifying you that a proceeding is commenced in your name.
@cloudy: Because the monies paid out to you need to be recovered in some way by the Insurance companies
When my comprehensive insurance was due for annual renewal, I did my usual shop around for the best price (searching with the same agreed value and excess on a comprehensive policy, then ranking by price). Then I called up to my insurer at the time (woolies insurance) who had a price beat policy (which they have since watered down, unfortunately), and said "I've found a better price on comparable insurance", and went through the details. The phone call usually takes about 10 to 15 mins, to save about $30 off the best price I found & ~$140 off their automated renewal price. During that extended time on the call, most people are quite chatty and friendly, if you're friendly to them, and the person (who could presumably see the all the history of my insurance) told me about that the other driver hadn't paid up yet, and they were still chasing them. I never heard anything further about it, so I don't know what happened after that. This was about 4 years ago.
When I used to work in the Insurance Industry - I provide this general advice to prospective clients regarding their insurance coverage level necessity:
Can you afford to replace your own asset yourself should something happen? If not, then you require adequate coverage from the insurance policy to do so.
I can afford another car
Are you sure? LoL
If you cant afford to replace your car, you cant afford your car!
Always third party if your car value is not much. In your case you are paying about 1/13 th of your full car value per year to keep it insured. If that sounds a good deal to you is completely personal.
An example where comprehensive is useless : I had a car back into mine and cracked my bumper while parked (no cameras). Cost to fix was 700 bucks. My excess was 650. I got it repaired on my own because once you claim insurance your premiums blow up. I could have been better off by 1000 bucks just by not getting comprehensive.
I got it repaired on my own because once you claim insurance your premiums blow up.
yeah the insurance lady was telling me about some girl who claimed her cracked windscreen because it was excess free. Her premiums went up by $400 and it would've only cost $200 or so to fix.
An example where comprehensive is useless
There are plenty of examples or situations where comprehensive is useless and a life saver. Same thing with third party.
Unfortunately, we don't get to pick our accidents. We don't get to pick whether a nice responsible adult or a complete dodgy scum hit our car.
Up to you whether you want to take the gamble, for someone that is either uninsured hitting your car or someone that does a hit and run….
In answer to one of the other writers, unlike NSW where you need at least 3rd party (whatever the green slip used to be) to get registration, in Victoria you don't need any insurance for your car, which makes comprehensive an even better idea…
I understand it's a gamble, I just wanted other people's opinion on whether it's a gamble I should take haha (clearly the answer is no though so that's what I'm going for). The carpark is protected and there's not a lot of other cars, as I said 10 minutes of driving per day and it's parked in a garage.
I always get comprehensive, for the just in case moment (not insured or hit an run) and also that you can do a "not at fault" claim, so you don't have to wait for the other insurer to come out and do a check and then wait again for them to approve to fix your car…..
Not true. In nsw you do need a green slip, as compulsory third party (CTP) but it’s only for injury to persons. In Vic this is a component of registration so you still pay for it, just don’t have to shop around, I think it’s referred to as TAC.
InNSW you still should have at least additional third party property (TPP) insurance to cover damage to other property. Vic is the same.
Too many people confuse the CTP with TPP and think they are covered when they aren’t.
I can't quite justify comprehensive at this stage - my Aurion is worth probably ~$7500 and the lowest comprehensive premium is around 1000. Excess is 1000 at that and after adding the age excess (<25) I'd be nearly at $1500 for the excess alone which could buy a lot of repairs/parts from the wreckers.
For a $20-25k car though, comprehensive is probably worth it.
I can't quite justify comprehensive at this stage - my Aurion is worth probably ~$7500 and the lowest comprehensive premium is around 1000. Excess is 1000 at that and after adding the age excess (<25) I'd be nearly at $1500 for the excess alone which could buy a lot of repairs/parts from the wreckers.
This was the same situation when I first got my P's except my premiums were more than 2k and around 2k for excess. I know I'm saying this because I haven't had an accident but 5 years later, I've saved nearly what my car is worth now.
Accidents happen even if they aren't your fault. If you can't afford to replace the car or can't live without it (considering it's $25k and you use it to get to work) then get comprehensive insurance.
Thanks but what if I can?
It’s up to you. If you can afford to have your car written off by an uninsured driver then you only need to have TPP just in case you crash into a high dollar car or leave the handbrake off and your car rolls into someone’s loungrerom.
Ita a risk many aw willing to take with cheap cars, but $25k isn’t cheap and is a lot to have to replace if something goes wrong.
If you have plenty of money and 25k is not going to hurt you then go for it and stick with TPP. but remember that comprehensive is not just for accidents!
Can afford to replace the car? OR, can afford to live without a car?
Both at this stage with it being so close haha
Unsure that's the case.
You need to ask yourself, if your car gets written off tomorrow (regardless if you're at fault or not), do you have 20-25K lying around to replace it immediately?
If yes, you could consider only third party.
If no, get comprehensive.
Yeah I understand the risks, the poll was just to see what the general consensus was and go with that. Maybe I should've added that in the description haha
that's the thing though, the right answer to your question depends entirely on your personal circumstances. For me I would want to be in a position where 20-25k has an immaterial effect on my long term financial wellbeing. So I personally would put that at around 100k cash or cash equivalents on hand and already be setup with my investments/house for life. Less than that and the loss of that money I would perceive as having a significant impact on my financial wellbeing, especially when in only 2 years your rate will drop considerably.
I should have put that in the description, it definitely plays a part. Losing the car will obviously be a financial hit but I can buy another one. As others said though, there's other benefits to third party so for peace of mind, I'll just get full comp. It felt fairly borderline (although leaning towards full comp) for me so I thought I'd get a poll.
Make sure you investigate Bingle. They had the best price for me when I was looking for comprehensive insurance.
Get comprehensive. Don't go with AAMI, they charge 2.5 to 1.75x more and offer no more benefits.
Car worth less than 10k. 3rd party only
It is mind blowing that anyone would consider having only third party on a car worth 20-25k.
That is one hell of a gamble.
Yeah I thought maybe because of the short distance to work it might be worth it. I was definitely leaning towards full comp, I just thought I'd see what the general consensus is
OP's in penalty box. What happened?
Some troll seemingly kept questioning whether I could afford to replace the car, it was so weird I have no idea why they kept doing that so I called them an idiot.
Depends on your budget but 20k car I would say is borderline.
I rarely drive so I just get 3rd party.
Each to their own when it comes to insurance but what if you die in the accident or the person who hits you is actually a decent person and has insurance so who knows.
It is more hassle to deal with everything yourself if you don't have comprehensive but that is at a $1000 cost. The cost only goes up too while the insurance amount only goes down so.Yeah it is fairly borderline that's why I thought I'd start a poll haha going full comp :)
Have you tried Huddle? They're quite good on a high excess.
But, like I say to clients and friends (since this is literally my job as a Commercial Insurance Broker) - don't take a risk on something you can't afford to lose. Whether that be your house, your pets, but especially not your car.
Car Insurance, especially comp cover when the car is worth over $10K, is necessary as you're protecting yourself from others as well as you from them. And since physics, not only does the car get damaged, you can too and that's also covered in some way by the Insurance as well as TAC in VIC.
Awesome, just checked them out and you're right, they're a bit a cheaper than budget direct.
don't take a risk on something you can't afford to lose
I think that's the kicker for most people, I don't want to lose it but I can afford to lose it haha but still, thanks for the advice going full comp !
They're also new and they're backed by a Commercial Insurer so, they're not too bad. Plus, they aren't as dumb and dismissive when it comes to claims :)
All good! $20K is still a lot of money that is useful elsewhere so, save that and use it for something else worthwhile :)
Even though your car is only worth $7k, I think it's ok to say you can't afford to replace it, hence wanting to take out insurance.
What are you even talking about? The main reason for taking out insurance is hitting someone else's car. Do you need some links to some information about insurance?
Omar another perspective I'm glad I had full comprehensive insurance on my Yaris. A few years ago I backed into someone who was reversing into the same parking spot as me in a rear/front to kerb parking spot. Obviously it was just an unfortunate accident but as we know insurance rules state each bear their own in parking spot accidents.
Unfortunately for me there were too many witnesses who saw I was technically the one who was at fault and the other driver was uninsured and they were prepared to call the police so I did the nice thing and after a bit of explaining ended up progressing with the claim for me and the other driver. Yes it was a lesson learnt for me but there were just too many witnesses who saw me and had my rego details for me to do a runner.
Comprehensive all the way. 1990 Hilux 4x4.
3rd Party insurance is $158/year Full comprehensive is $160/year. For the extra $2 it's a no brainer!
Out of interest what do they value the hilux at? I assume they think whatever claim you might make will just be cutting a cheque as it’s so low value that even a minor repair would write it off.
Its with NRMA. Not agreed value, but market value. For the Comprehensive with extras @ $400+ a year the agreed value was around $3600.
If it came to a claim, I'd argue that similar hilux's are in fact selling for $7000-$15000, so unless its a major accident I'd say that they'd repair instead of write off - of the 3 accidents I've had in the car all have resulted in very minor damage compared to other vehicles involved - the advantage of a solid steel bull bar, rear bar and tray.
The main thing is that the difference between the 3rd Party and Comprehensive premiums has always been so insignificant, that comprehensive is always the only option. My other newer Hilux is ~$500 for 3rd party and ~$600 for comprehensive.
I'm in the same boat as OP. Insured Market value of my car is around $13K. My AAMI Comprehensive insurance renewal policy is ~$1200. 10 years ago, I was paying $1200 for the same car valued at $75K!. It is absurd to be paying 10% of the vehicle value to insure the car. One would think the premium is reduced as the value of the vehicle depreciates. I went and get quotes from RACV/Allianz/Budget etc…and their online quotes are $1500-$1600.
Have you tried Woolworths insurance?
You might find them cheaper.
PLUS they give discounts for low km AND offer 10% shopping discounts.
Yes I also got a quote from WW and it was $15xx.
ALWAYS comprehensive to safe guard yourself from all the idiots who cannot drive or reverse or indicate or even use their mirrors!!
You're right, got third party just to avoid any headaches in the future, I just didn't know it was so common. Thanks
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Comprehensive with a high excess is the answer. Brings the policy down considerably which rewards safe drivers.