% increase in annual insurance premium

What have been the % increases in the annual insurance premium for your IPs this year? I have 2 IPs - both houses - and the building & content and LL insurance premium for one has gone up 15% and for another 12%, from previous year's premium. Is this the norm? Or, should I shop around?

 

I'm also interested in this. I'm assessing all my costs at the moment and one of the largest is insurance, which all went up recently. All my properties are with EBM. I haven't asked for quotes from other providers but I believe there are cheaper options out there.

What has everyone's experiences been with the various insurance providers?

I've had a couple claims through EBM which I believe went smoothly, but never tried the others.

@ozwanderlust just be careful that you go with someone who has a good coverage policy - there's no use going with someone cheaper who will not cover you for as much $$ or look for reasons to not pay up

 

11% is the general annual increase

 

Thanks, Jmillar. Am with EBM. I only had one claim with them a few years ago, and the following year, the premium shot up 40% . Just curious as to what is the norm in % premium increase for this year. However, JacM, has confirmed that 11% has been the annual increase for this year. So, it looked like my premium increases have skewed slightly upward.

 

As you've mentioned, plenty of care with the cover. There are certainly cheaper options out there, but as a general rule cheap comes with increased risk. It may not be overly apparent at first glance but as I've pointed out in another post recently there can be some significant failings in some policies, it's not something you want to find out for the first time when you are, for example, looking at a $40,000 decontamination bill from a discovered meth lab, and realise that you saved $200 on your insurance but now don't have any cover for it.

 

An increase such as that would be unrelated, such as an adjustment in an area above the 26th parallel coupled with loss of the first year discount. Some company policy premiums are aligned to losses however that's not the case with EBM.

 

These will certainly vary between companies for all sorts of reasons. This year saw the introduction of some significant new policy features which unfortunately require premium to cover the claims, but the potential increase in claim payouts make it, in our opinion, justified and worthwhile. The important thing is to ensure you are getting "value" rather than looking for "cheap".

 

Hello, just want to follow up here - just got a renewal from EBM for one IP (house in Victoria) and the premium has gone up 7% (last year it was 3%). Anyone got a similar increase?

 

7% is a very low increase. My increases are 15 - 18% as I'm struggling to get such good "discretionary discounts". The insurers keep bleating that their rebuilding costs have gone up so please could all the tradies on here confirm to me they have received an 18% pay increase this year!!!!

Inflation is at 1.9%. How can insurance companies justify increases which are 10 x this???

 

I've watched TSI go from $289 to $326 to $336 to $350 over the last few years

 

Thanks, James Bond, for your reply

 

What is TSI? pardon the ignorance ...

 

I assume Terri Scheer Insurance?

 

The issue is, most people are 'set and forget' - they receive the renewal notice in the mail and then put it aside because it will just keep coming out direct debit. They don't realise its gone up 20% - or they are too scared to pick up the phone and ask for a discount, or heaven forbid.. change companies *gasp*.
My own parents are exactly this.. "But I've always been with NRMA and they will give me a 2.5% discount if I stay with them for another 5 years."
Yet, NRMA has been hiking their premiums a LOT more than a measly 2.5%, every year.

 

I have been thinking of changing from EBM (with them for years ) to TSI - getting comparative quotes, then I read in this forum that some have commented that EBM has handled claims more smoothly than TSI. Not that I have had many claims with EBM - only two in the last 20 years.

 

100% this practice with insurance has always really annoyed me! I get new policies out for a decent proportion of the properties we manage insurance policies for and save a bunch!