Finding out who you have insurance with...

Ok, I'm getting ready for a bashing here.

We've got all of our insurance policies with one or two insurance companies. Everything from Public Liability, business stuff, vehicles, home and contents, IP and landlord insurance.

I know sounds crazy, but we cant find any paperwork for the insurance of one of our IPs and the associated landlord insurance. I was sure everything was with these 2 companies, but this IP isn't listed under any of them. I've had a quick look through our paperwork for that IP and cant find anything, but given our paperwork is in a state of chaos at the moment it may be there somewhere - I know, there's a lesson to be learnt here!

I'll obviously have a good look over the weekend, but it got me thinking is there anyway you can see which company you have insurances with other than your own records?

Thanks in advance...

 

Good question! I don't know the answer but I would suggest calling the Insurance Council of Australia to ask them as I'm sure they'd be able to give you guidance.

Home - Insurance Council Australia

 

The only people/organisations who would have any knowledge of where your insurance sits would be:

• You
• The Insurer
• The insurance broker (if used)
• Your property manager (if used and advised of insurance by you)
• The financier (if applicable and advised by you)

General insurance policies are not recorded anywhere other than these as far as I'm aware.

 

Call the insurance company who you think may have the policy first?

If no luck there check credit card/bank statements backwards from the current month to find the most recent payment?
Check with pm if they hold the details, they normally require a copy of public liability statement.

 

Sounds like you're not certain if you even have insurance? I would suggest ringing an insurer and getting a covernote immediately while you hunt around for your actual insurance, if it exists.

Be aware that if your lender gets a whiff of you not being insured you may be deemed to have breached your loan contract.

 

ps a hot tip for keeping track of your insurance situation is to keep a scan copy of the renewal invoice with your electronic tax records each year. That way you know how much you paid, who to, and when it's due again.

 

Is this IP owned by the same entity as your other IPs? For instance, if the others are all under your own name it's easier for the insurer to find it on screen under your name. If this problem IP is held under a SMSF, they could cross reference to it via your phone number and then they'll realise your SMSF and you are one and the same.

 

Hi guys,

Thank you all for your suggestions. After I mild panic, I have it all sorted. It was with an insurer that we only use for that property, but it had expired . You can imagine my stress when I realised it wasnt insured for the past 2 months.... (lucky it was only that long).

As @JacM suggested, when I was unsure of our position I immediately rang our usual provider and organised cover - on the assumption that I could cancel the established one if it existed.

Note to self: Keep paperwork in a more organised state in future....

Phew!

 

... to add to the above, we found what we were looking through by going through last year's record of expenses for tax purposes.

 

Curious to know if you canceled the previous policy as mine automatically renew provided they still have credit card/direct debit details.
Otherwise I would definitely not be able to keep track easily.

 

Oh wow. Glad you sorted it out @Allgood

 

No I didn't cancel it, I'm assuming it was just time for renewal and for some reason it wasn't renewed. Maybe they didn't try to renew, maybe they sent us an renewal notice and we misplaced it, or maybe they tried to put it through on our credit card and it didn't go through so they gave up??

I didn't actually ask where it went wrong, I'll call them back for a please explain when I get a chance.