Cars & Motorbikes re budgetting have any of you found ways to save on car insurance which is big bill yearly?

re budgetting have any of you found ways to save on car insurance which is big bill yearly?

have you tried getting quotes from other more online or newer companies,

and were they ok if you needed to claim.

 

After my late 20's I only ever insure with the big companies - NRMA/AAMI/ALLIANZ.

Reason being their claims process very smooth, especially if you have full comprehensive.
This was evident in my last 2 claims:

1. NRMA - Car was hit by a delivery driver whilst left in the care of a carwash - business did not take responsibility and instead just gave me the license plate and a phone number to call. Was given the run-around by 2-3 departments so gave up and called my insurer. They told me to drive the car into their service centre and gave me a cab charge home and another one for when the car was ready. They chased up the at fault party. Smooth. No headaches.
2. AAMI - old lady reversed into me at a shopping centre. Was driving her daughter's car and said she wasn't covered and was breaking down in tears in front of me. I got her license and took down the plate. Called the insurer and same deal. Drove to their service centre and sorted within a week.

If you are finding the annual bill a little tough, perhaps look at paying monthly. This will increase the overall cost but is much better cashflow-wise.

Insurance is one of those things you pay for that you hope to never use.
I know this is repeated ad-nauseum but there is a reason why.
It is almost always required for a moment of stress/duress so paying a bit extra for speed/comfort/peace of mind is well worthwhile IMO.
Like many things in life: you get what you pay for.

This is just my experience.

 

Not just price but service, convenience, confidence etc...

Chasing price, over the years I've used many different Co's, used to change Co's every year, I've pretty much only used AAMI the past few years.

Budget, for price, I used them ~10yrs ago, car got stolen, no big issues with claim but wasn't smooth, however even though not my fault they declined further insuring me with next car, incident/claim bumped me into higher risk category on their system, whilst they later chased me for my business I told them to stick it, never used them again.

Coles/Woolworth's/Sgio/Banks etc etc... They initially give a great price, however they play the odds that consumers will simply pay the renewal without comparing/checking price, renewal price is always much greater than what else is available with others, sure I can call them & they'll sharpen the price but why should I/we, they know what the competition is doing, they should give the good price straight off the bat, not muck me/us around, try and rip us off etc.

AAMI have always been consistent with price/renewal with my cars, bikes, PPOR's etc, only thing they don't insure is boats so I use SGIO. As bread said their amazingly simple to claim through, clear English speaking Aussie call centres.

Most Insurers will apply a discount if you have another policy with them.
Some offer a discount if you use their online system, but I've found with AAMI I usually get a better discount if I call them.

 

Yes.

Have cars that are fully owned and only worth a few grand, then third party property is all you need, over decade it will save you enough for at least a few things that appreciate in value.

 

One way is to increase you excess, I have done this for newer company cars...

 

Has this got something to do with Property ???????????????

 

Sorry thought it was about cars, but you can also increase excesses or sometimes decrease Sum Insured (SI), although I did this only after the bank wanted to have a higher valuation than I agreed (after few years when equity grew).
For the IPs I often will have a building excess of $1000 as owning many, say over 20, can cost a lot, so I do that as to me it is more important if something major happens, I am willing to cover out of pocket expenses of $1000.00 for each. Think about it how often would you need to place a claim on ALL in one year? SO far so good, did not need to lodge a claim.
Also, I combine landlord and building together to receive a multiple policy discount. Like with everything you need to negotiate and ask.... all they can say is 'NO' or 'YES'?

 

As others have said, it is critical to actually review your renewals since often the agreed value (if you choose this, which you generally should) or premium changes more than the market.

The main reason I choose NRMA or Allianz is their choice of repairer for the nicer car. I don't care about the cheaper car but have had bad workmanship xperiences with AAMI repairers on two occasions. It becomes too much trouble to rely on their lifetime warranty as you have to go back to the same repairer.

 

yes there have been documentaries about the shonky jobs and tricks aami do . but many use them as theya re still a cheap option and when i had to claim on house insurance they were ok. i think for car i've used racv to have choice of repairer as aami doesnt give that

when i've tried getting other quotes it somehow washard and didnt come up cheaper maybe some detail was wrong i dont know

 

1. Drive a cheap car. 2. Buy a white car. 3. Bundle multiple insurance policies with the same company. 4. Raise excess. 5. Don't claim unless you absolutely have to (don't be a serial claimer). 6. Get advanced driving lessons/courses if you're an average driver (helps with your survival and some insurance co's give discounts to those who have them).
I pay $810 for 2 cars, comprehensive. Was paying $900 PER car when I was with NRMA (agreed value kept going down, premium kept going up).

 

I have had a good claims process with NRMA, I have all my insurances with them. I know there are cheaper ones out there but I am happy with what I get for the money I pay, I see no need to try and save a few bucks on something I don't know how good it will be until I really need it to be good.