Insurance Type and Cost Changes

[jaxy]

Have rung round getting quotes on my rental renewals. Feel that if the insurance coys know they will lose business they will keep increases to a minimum. There is no need to just accept the new premiums. Ringing round the insurance companies is worth the effort as I have reduced my premium increase each renewal.

[Perry]

Some figures I have, so far.

	2012	2011
House	738.74	733.14
Contents	398.12	433.69
Cottage	622.7	599.71
House	667.09	664.77
Other Buildings	894.32	887.42
Vehicles	1348.71	1396.35
Sundry Assets	758.08	735.22
Farm vehicles	179.49	159.37

Some random changes in there.

[flyernzl]

I have received my insurance renewal notice from AMI for my longest-held rental property.
It is a three-bedroom weatherboard house, iron roof, on a full ROW section in New Windsor, Auckland. Basically, your standard 1970s Beazley/Universal/Neil iconic two-kids-down-and-30-years-to-pay house.

Cover is full replacement cost, including earthquake cover, fire service levy, loss of rent cover, no excess on glass or sanitary items. Excess is $400. This scope of cover has remained unchanged for many years.

Including GST, premium requested is $745.88

Looking back through my records, I find previouis premium payments as follows:

2011 - $541.65

2010 - $517.32

2009 - $456.94

2008 - $347.93

2007 - $326.01

2006 - $311.30

2005 - $295.35

2004 - $289.75

2003 - $284.35

So thats a 260% increase over the 10 year period. No doubt they will have all sorts of reasons and excuses, but an increase is an increase. Damn sure the rent has not gone up by that percentage over the same time period.

Although all my properties are and always have been with AMI, this time I'm going to look around.

Two reasons:
- AMI have been bought by IAG who are, in my view, unfit to insure a wet paper bag.
- when I rang up to insure my latest property with AMI they said "We see that you have several investment properties insured with us. We don't really like that. We'll cover this one, but no more after that". What a strange attitude. In effect: "we see you are a good customer, so we don't want any more of your business"!

The world is indeed a peculiar place.

[DazRaz]

Be thankful you can choose which insurer to use. I use Tower, AMI and State and I can't change from any of them. With my last purchase, I got the right royal run around as the vendor was insured with ASB. Got so many different stories how to change it to me.

[Perry]

Ahhh, why can't you change insurers?

[Dragon Master]

Possibly Christchurch? We can't change at all I'm stuck with Vero for my rental and AMI for my home. Vero's been revealed to be crap with these quakes and AMI was great...... till they sold themselves to the devil

[DazRaz]

Yes, Christchurch. I bought a house Dec 2010 and had to take over an AMI policy and this month bought another insured by ASB. ASB's policies are backed by IAG so the cover has now been transferred to State.

[mrsaneperson]

I am definitely going to be ringing around for quotes . Just received my AMI rental property insurance annual bill & it has gone up quite a lot! Anyone know of any good deals out there?

[frazzledfozzle]

all our insurance is with AMI. With AIG's recent announcements on dealing with red zone properties in Brooklands we will be looking for another insurer who isn't connected to AIG.

[flyernzl]

Best of luck with that.

I checked things out with an independent broker, and showed him my AMI invoice.
He advises me that there is no way he can find any other insurance company quoting within a bull's roar of their quote, so it looks like I'm stuck with it.

[speights boy]

frazzled

In the interest of accuracy for others, I think you mean IAG, not AIG.

Dyslexia rules KO.

[frazzledfozzle]

Oops thanks for that correction speights boy

[mrsaneperson]

Has anyone done any cost comparisons for the different insurance companies?3rd party house insurance cover?..LOL

[Perry]

AA Moves Insurance Risk To Homeowners
06/12/2012

Homeowners who insure with AA are going to have to become rebuild cost
experts. From 16 December AA Insurance's new house cover policies will
become "sum insured", meaning the homeowner specifies the sum they
want their home insured for. In other words homeowners will become
responsible for knowing how much it would cost to rebuild their home,
and for making sure they update their coverage each year to account
for any rises in the costs of building services and supplies.

If they do not, they face the risk of being unable to rebuild their
home to a similar standard in the case of its destruction by fire or
natural disaster. Suzanne Wolton, head of customer relations, AA
Insurance, said: "This is really about providing swift and certain
resolution, and managing future affordability for our customers.

Insurance expert John Prendergast said people would have to be careful
not to end up finding themselves under-insured because they had got
the rebuild cost wrong. "This is shifting the responsibility from the
insurer to the insured," he said.

[hawkeye]

When oh when will people get it!!!

The cost of the insurance is the least of your worries. Look at how the companies have performed when they have been called on in Christchurch. Choose someone that has a record of honouring their contracts. In my opinion this rules out Vero and all companies under the IAG banner.

Often a lower cost means that they haven't underwritten the policy at the time of its establishment and will do the work when you make a claim. Suddenly you will find that they shouldn't have sold you that policy in the first place for the circumstances. See various recent threads that have highlighted this.