4x4 Insurance cost increase

I'm with Apia, and every renewal time I get a bill for what I think is too much....until I google other places and find they are still the cheapest.....EXCEPT for the little offroad van....they can never match GIO....go figure..

Mikee5 is right on the mark. Anyone who just pays a substantially increased renewal premium, every renewal time, is a mug.

Insurance companies are the most devious operators around, and they know policy holders are reluctant to change companies - so they try you out to the max, with massive increases in renewal premiums - which many people simply grumble about, and then just pay!

Every insurance renewal exercise for me, is a game. My insurer ramps up the renewal premium by a figure that is about 5 times the CPI - and I then go looking for other quotes.

If the other quotes aren't competitive, I make one up.
Then I call my insurer and start on them. Yes, I'd love to stay with them, they're a wonderful company, and they've always done the right thing by me (even though I haven't had a claim of any consequence in 10 or 15 years) - but I think the increase in the premium is quite excessive, and if we can't come to some agreement, then I will have to part ways with them sorrowfully, and take my business to Dodgy Bros Inc.

Of course, they will start on how Dodgy Bros are a high risk overseas operation, and known to avoid payouts, and you're risking everything if you go with them.
They forget to mention that all insurance companies avoid and minimise payouts, every chance they get.

The operator on the line usually has the power to knock 5% off the premium on the spot, as soon as you start your wail.

If you start on how the children will be missing out on breakfast every day now, because of the massively-increased premium cost - then usually that will get you transferred to a manager-type person, who has more power to knock another 10% off the renewal premium.

It's all just a big game - and the insurance companies try to tell you that they've had a bad year, and disasters were rife, and car smashes have increased by 40% over the previous year, and they have little choice but to massively increase premiums, or go broke.

They'll tell you they use carefully crafted charts and figures as to how they arrived at your premium calculation - when in fact they actually use a dartboard, and pick out the highest number they hit.

Insurance company bankruptcies are about as common as sighting unicorns grazing in your neighbours paddock - so don't hold back, they are always on a winner, no matter what you pay in premiums.

Cheers, Ron.

I find they won't budge an inch these days. Sorry to see you leave, but who cares !!

They were my previous insurer and the premium went up by 14.6% and depreciated the car by 20%. Guy I spoke to at Club 4X4 said that for every $100k of premiums received they have been paying out $140k in claims so something had to give.

cheers

Dunc.

Hey Scott & Sally
I didn't want to name them but Club 4x4 is the insurance company I was referring to.
Cheers

Nope. They are uncompetitive, in my case.

Never had an at-fault prang. Low risk Sydney suburb, garaged. Maximum NCB for over 35 years (not that it counts).

Car is $800 more than my current insurer. Camper about $500 more. Their benefits are comparable.

I don’t even bother checking with them at renewal time. They’re not even close :)

Winner, you're on the mark there, double-dipping at its finest!

I also note how the insurance companies continue to raise the basic excess on a regular basis.

A standard excess used to be $100, then it became $300 - then it's $500 or $600 or $800!

I find that the online quote generators are useless, you're best advised to get on the phone, and talk to a real live person of managerial level, who you can negotiate with.

Of course, this often involves a wait until that person becomes available - but if they know it's potential income, they will treat you better than if you're calling to register your dissatisfaction with a payout.

A mate just wrote off his 2008 Nissan Patrol single cab trayback (by falling asleep and running off the road into a patch of small trees).

He bingled all the LHS and the insurance company deemed it uneconomic to repair, as it had a kink in the chassis near the LHF wheel. Physically, it didn't look too bad.
It had done 280,000kms, and the company didn't want to give him any more than $15,000 for it.

He managed to talk them up to $17,000 - so he then went and bought a 2013 100,000km Mazda BT50 4WD trayback for $20,000, seeing as the cropping season isn't looking too flash, here in the West.

I thought he did pretty well out of them, as I saw a nearly identical Patrol, a 2010 model with only 100,000kms, and in excellent nick, sell for $13,250 at a local auction just before last Christmas.

What I found strange, was - I thought chassis kinks deemed a vehicle a Statutory Writeoff - yet the vehicle turned up in Pickles salvage yard, and was sold as a Repairable Writeoff?

Cheers, Ron.

I paid $2270 last year, now they want $2900!

WHAT $2900 for a 2008 vehicle? I have a 2016 Discovery 4 which I paid in excess of $100K, My insurance with budget direct is about $650 a year! Cheaper than insuring my Mazda 3 at a 1/4 the purchase price! (M3 is $715)

WTF?????? over 2k in insurance????

definately be doing a ring around, they ovbiously dont want you as a customer anymore

Wow but there must be more to this story if it cost that much.

Batts, I personally would like to read the rest of that story if there's more to it. You'll have to get the rest of the story from Club 4x4. I haven't made any claims on insurance for over 7 years. I have had a clean driving record for over 11 years. It's not like I'm a risk.
I have been shopping around and just received a quote that mirrors last years (with Club 4x4) for $1900. Go figure.

Just thought it might be used as a tour vehicle or something for paying customers to justify the price other than that it seems very expensive for private use.