NRMA vs EBM?

Hi guys,

All my 9 IPs are with EBM but was just wanting some feedback on how people find NRMA to deal with?

Some of my family members have had quotes for their properties from both companies and have found NRMA a lot cheaper, and they found them easy to deal with on a recent claim.

Just wondering if anyone has feedback on NRMA?

Cheers

 

Read up on the excess payable and amounts paid out. Hard to compare to EBM.

 

I agree with D.T.

Maybe cheaper policy up front but coverage will not be as extensive as EBM. I would really look into it before making the switch. Have seen too many owners miss out on so much by not having the right coverage with their landlord insurance.

 

It might be worth me repeating a post I made in another thread.

You need to make sure you understand what excesses you will be paying even if you nominate $X as the basic excess. We were recently sent some correspondence regarding, coincidentally, an NRMA policy. I will repeat it below to make the point.

EXCESSES
The following excesses apply to your policy:
• a $300 basic excess for each claim
• when you claim for Rent Default we will deduct from your claim 4 times the weekly rental amount and a rent default excess of $300
• when you claim for Vandalism or a Malicious or Intentional act by a Tenant or their guest, we will deduct from your claim 4 times the weekly rental amount and the $300 basic excess
• when you claim for Theft or Attempted Theft by a Tenant or their guest, we will deduct from your claim 4 times the weekly rental amount and the $300 basic excess

This means, that although they have selected a $300 basic excess, the actual excess is massively higher. They are deducting 4 times the weekly rent PLUS the basic excess of $300. This includes loss of rent claims.

There are numerous policies that have NIL excess on loss of rent claims, and certainly excesses on damage claims nothing like these.

So just that word of warning, check ALL the potential deductions, not just what is called the excess, because this one blew me away, and NRMA aren't the only culprits.

Further to this, there are some significant policy differences. This includes NRMA not having cover for Accidental Damage or as far as I can see even Deliberate & Intentional. You would need to prove Malicious. Not sure if there is cover for Tenant Hardship or how they treat Death of a Tenant. Add to that no cover for pet damage, they only cover damage by animals not kept at the premises. I suspect there is more.

At the end of the day, when insurance is cheap there is generally a reason. In saying that, in the actual instance I quoted above the NRMA premium was considerably dearer even after multiple discounts applied.

 

As others say, look closely if it is the LL side if your relying on that, for building should be ok.

 

Thanks guys, it seems LL insurance with EBM is better and then building insurance with NRMA might be better, however I'm not game enough to split them on each property in case there's an argument over who covers what.

Cheers

 

When a claim is made you disclose the other policies to each insurer. The insurance industry has specific rules that govern who pays what based on policy. Dont be fearful of having a better insured outcome especially through policy definitions. Good examples can be flood, water damage and tenant related clauses etc. The LL policy may overlap slightly but it will have areas of cover the other policy just does not cover.

Speak to both insurers for their views and ask to speak to a underwriter. They know all the technical stuff that customer service wont.

Or use a general broker.

 

Im also looking to buy insurance for a property, got a quote through a broker, his suggestion was to use hollard insurance costing $1200 including his fees, Seemed expensive so started searching propertychat and found great reviews on EBM, EBMs quote is $736
Time to double check each policy to see why one is so much more expensive.

 

What is EBMs claim process? Do they send u the money less the excess and then u go and do ur own repairs etc.? Once the repairs are done, do u have to send them the invoices etc?

 

Basically we would ask you to submit quotes/invoices and all other info. We work out the settlement, less the excess and send a cheque. It may be easiest to lodge the claim over the phone and we will then explain how the process will work.

 

So after getting the cheque I have to get the repairs done myself and send back the invoices for the work done?

How do I choose which business to engage for repairs? I mean some tradies charge a lot more than others for the same work.

In other insurances I've seen that the insurer gets all the work done themselves and I just pay them the excess.

 

The cheque amount is based on the invoices or quotes you send in

 

I meant how will ebm make sure that they are getting value for money? The cost will depend on the tradie choose by the policy holder

 

There will always be variances in costs for tradies based on location, timing, the economy, natural disasters etc., however as our claims staff settle hundreds of claims every month they have a pretty good idea of what is right and what isn't, so will question it if something looks out of the normal range. It's also the reason you are required to obtain more than one quote.

The alternative would be to appoint assessors for the majority of claims (which some companies do) however this can slow the entire process down so much we avoid assessors wherever possible. The speed of our claims service and getting money back to the policyholder promptly is a key feature in our success.

 

Thanks Brett. I like the process which ebm follows and have all my policies with them. Only asked questions as i was just trying to understand the thought behind this process.

Just one more question...once the repairs are done, do we need to send the tax invoices back to ebm?

 

Thats a great explanation and for rentals seems a far faster process than the assessor route

 

Not if the claim is already approved and paid, from our point of view the claim has been finalised.

 

And this is why i love you. Well EBM, not you specifically sorry Brett

Assessors are such a pain.

 

Haha. I will try to hide my disappointment.

 

That's a gr8 process as compared to other insurance companies..