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timmmay

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#212759 11-Apr-2017 15:16
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When you sign up to a new insurer you typically get various discounts - first year discount, online discount, etc. Sometimes there can be significant, sometimes even up to 30%. When it comes to renewal time these prices go up to standard.

 

Is there any downside to changing insurers every year to get the best price?

 

If course you want to use good companies - for car insurance I'm looking at state (incumbent), AMI, AA, and Tower. Tower's the cheapest by a reasonable margin for my car - $720 for state, $520 for tower, same excess and same type of policy. No idea about the detail of the cover.

 

Consumer customer satisfaction puts AA Insurance way out in front, State and AMI a little below average (they've been fine for me), Tower the bottom by a fair margin. I guess that's why Tower is cheaper

 

I guess if you're with an insurer for years they might be a little nicer during claims. I suspect though insurers will find any way they can to deny paying the claim or reduce the claim value regardless of the time you've insured with them.

 

I may also try calling my current insurer to see if they'll match the price before I change companies. I think I did that once before, they pointed out all the ways they were better but can't remember if they offered a discount or not.


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throbb
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  #1761749 11-Apr-2017 15:57
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Since most of those companies are owned by the same insurance company not sure if they will count you as a new member.




Sideface
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  #1761755 11-Apr-2017 16:15
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You won't get a no-claims bonus if you keep changing insurers - I get a 33% discount with AA.





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timmmay

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  #1761758 11-Apr-2017 16:22
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throbb:

 

Since most of those companies are owned by the same insurance company not sure if they will count you as a new member.

 

 

It's quoted and paid online, and if prompted I sign in with the same email or credentials as before. If they want to count that it's up to them.

 

 

 

Sideface:

 

You won't get a no-claims bonus if you keep changing insurers - I get a 33% discount with AA.

 

 

Many actually give you the no claims bonus, carried over from a central claims registry.




Hammerer
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  #1761777 11-Apr-2017 16:54
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No doubt we could shift and get a lower price just like the switching incentives in other high-concentration industries like the banking, telecommunications and electric power industries. But of those industries, the insurance industry is the most difficult to compare.

 

Low premiums is our secondary aim behind good payouts as our primary aim. Payouts are relatively infrequent events for us so it is relatively risky to change insurers particularly when our existing insurers have been good payers. The terms and conditions and policy details are different enough that it requires some work to compare insurers head to head.

 

There's a good chance that a switch will be to the same owner with at least 70% owned by two Australia companies. Approximately:

 

45% IAG (Insurance Australia Group)

 

25% Suncorp

 

I'm been with one company for several years - they bought the consumer business of our previous insurer who we were with for over 20 years. For half that time it has been an IAG subsidiary.


timmmay

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  #1761780 11-Apr-2017 16:59
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I was with the same insurance company (state) for years, but when we got our new car I thought it was time to look around. That's why I wondered about this. I know my father in law in the UK changes just about every year, but there's much more competition over there.


  #1761787 11-Apr-2017 17:21
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timmmay:

 

Many actually give you the no claims bonus, carried over from a central claims registry.

 

 

I was susprised when I signed up with State a few years back that they started me off with a no claims bonus based on my no claims with my previous insurer. So definitely worth checking you can claim that with a new insurer.

 

- James


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  #1762066 12-Apr-2017 11:29
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We changed house insurers because FMG offered a lower premium plus a policy of the old type where there is no capped cost on replacing the home. Also we get discount there on top if we pay using our Farmlands shareholder account. Of course there is no NCD on house insurance to take into account.

 

Our broker (who did the insurance before that) went to 3 or 4 insurers every year and there was never any problem switching annually, same with vehicles.






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