Switching Home Insurance Companies

Hi just got my renewal policy from Allianz insurance and it's gone up from $112 a month to $168.

l got an online quote from AAMI and they are a lot cheaper around $100 a month and probably the cheapest insurance company. Their policy seems to cover everything, has anyone had any experience with AAMI home insurance? Would they be no worse than any of the other insurance companies. Because they are the cheapest could that be they are worse?
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My other question is there the option of naming a family member as an additional policy holder. l am the owner of the house and would be the primary policy holder. Can l also name a family member who lives in the house but has no ownership of the house as an additional policy holder?

Comments

  • +2
  • +1

    Best thing to do is compare PDS to see if the cover is apples to apples.

  • I am with them, never had to claim and hope I never have to. Have had car insurance with them for years and have claimed and never had an issue.

    One thing to note before you switch is to make it effective 3 days before your current one expires to cover you for floods, bushfire etc. if your area is prone because there's a 72 hour exclusion.

  • Can l also name a family member who lives in the house but has no ownership of the house as an additional policy holder

    Why do you want to?

    I have AAMI home insurance, but have never had to make a claim. I also have AAMI car insurance, and the claim and repair process for that policy was great.

    • +4

      I have AAMI home insurance, but have never had to make a claim.

      I saw in their TV commercial that when you do make a claim, a whole bunch of pretty girls turn up in a big red semi and on motorbikes…

      Hope that helps…..

      • when you do make a claim, a whole bunch of pretty girls turn up

        Beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder, but yes, that's completely true.

  • make it effective 3 days before your current one expires

    Two policies covering the same risk might be a problem when it comes to a claim. You won't be able to claim on both policies, and one or both policies might actually deny the claim if it is covered by another policy.

    • You won't be able to claim on both policies

      Why?

    • They can only deny the claim if you've already had a claim accepted under another policy. It's your choice which of the two policies to claim against, and if one denies your claim you can try again under the other policy. Insurance companies can't refuse your claim simply for having another policy. You just can't double dip by getting two payouts from different companies for the same loss.

      • Wouldn't the second one try researching why the first one actually is liable, to save money? You could pit the two against each other. Though they might find a way neither of them are liable..

        • There are lots of legal rules, along with industry agreements, where there is double insurance. Generally it means each of them pays 50%. The insured just claims against the one with the lowest excess

  • My current policy expires on 17th october , when l switch to the new company should l tell them to start the new policy on the 17th october or should l start the new policy right away and contact the other company and tell them to cancel my policy right away

    • We just swapped from Budget to AAMI this year.

      Start it the day after your current one exprers. This is on our instance certificate.

      Period of Insurance: 23 August 2023 to 11:59pm 6 August 2024

    • +1

      Just make sure that there is no gap between one policy ending and the other commencing (ie one ends at noon, the other starts at midnight), and that there is no exclusion period on the new policy (as someone mentioned above).

  • I had my properties insured by Allianz for years and I ditched them 2 years ago as I was fed up with the responses I received from the people in their call centres.

  • +1

    I had a pretty good experience claiming with AAMI. We had a flash storm and a 2nd floor bathroom window got massive spider webbing cracks (but still in place) and patio ceiling separating. I called them up, they did ask if it was urgent as they had many claims from that storm and I said no I was happy to wait. Guy came and assessed, I paid excess no dramas.

    A few days after the storm, power went down for about 18 hours so I called them for the fridge food replacement thing - no excess. She asked me to estimate how much the fridge/freezer contents were to replace, I said maybe $400 and that was it. No need photos or receipts and it was in my bank account the next day.

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