What Insurance & Which Company?

[Eljay1]

insurance for multiple rentals

We've been using Tower who've consistently been the cheapest of the 3 or so quotes I've had but just wondering if there are any other firms out there who may be even more competitive? I've just been getting quick quotes online from 3 of the large insurers? Any recommendations?
Cheers

[Boostin]

Have you considered a broker? May be able to help you out with multiple properties.

I would recommend Jo Claydon from Crombie Lockwood.

Jo ClaydonBroker
phone +64 9 486 0852
[email protected]

[Leftette]

AMI give me the best deal.

[speights boy]

AMI give me the best deal.

Is that based on how they handle claims, policy inclusions, or price ?

[BigDreamer]

AMI give me the best deal.

AMI house insurance price quotes were always high for me. Have you used them for all your properties?

[Leftette]

Price. I treat insurance with the contempt it whole-heartedly deserves. Take this new sum-insured concept. What are the chances that your house is totally and utterly destroyed needing a full rebuild? Very slim. I know, I know - Chch etc - but that is still extremely rare. Insurance, for the most part is there to cover smaller loses, so I'm prepared to take the risk on a company that hasn't got a great track record on whole payouts won't have a problem with partial losses (burglary, tenant damage, minor car collisions etc).

Yes, BigDreamer, I have. Cars & boats too.

Cust service from the local branch has been very good so far, btw.

[Nice]

I took all mine to Crombie Lockwood a year or so back; the one small vehicle claim I have made since then was handled brilliantly !

Moved away from the big guys rather suddenly, found out none of them were the least bit interested in my business once I had a family member living here with a criminal record (who is doing extremely well with life by the way). It wasn't a matter of price or exceptions, they flatly would not give me the cover, and the incumbents gave me 2 weeks notice of cancellation !

[Eljay1]

Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty sure I tried AMI in the past and found Tower cheaper. I'll give Jo Claydon a try.

[BigDreamer]

Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty sure I tried AMI in the past and found Tower cheaper. I'll give Jo Claydon a try.

I have found that too. However, maybe if you have multiple policies at once they give a better rate (?).

[klauster]

Leftette makes valid points, treat insurance like banks. Why would you have all eggs in one basket? Discount insurers are picky when dealing with claims, in a blink of an eye, one little problem “your cheapest is worth nothing”.

[Eljay1]

Well I tried broker Jo C and AMI got all the quotes back and they're still all higher than Towe so guess I'll be with them for a while longer. Its scarey to look back at how insurance costs have risen, our cheapest cheapy has almost doubled in cost to insure in three and a half years. It seems to be $1k approx each pa for quite modest properties. We have a four bed brick stand alone house in the UK which insures for equivalent of below $500 pa. The earthquake factor I guess and smaller population /market means less competition amongst businesses.

[Leftette]

Eljay1, out of interest, is your UK property let, or are you living in it? I know the UK well and visit regularly thru business, and last time I checked the yields were dismal. worse than NZ. Is that your experience?

[Eljay1]

Eljay1, out of interest, is your UK property let, or are you living in it? I know the UK well and visit regularly thru business, and last time I checked the yields were dismal. worse than NZ. Is that your experience?

We rent it out, couldn't sell it after the crash. The yield is rubbish, possibly could get better yields today in other parts of UK, or other houses but this house was bought near the top of the market. The properties here have much better yields (unless you're comparing Auckland with cheaper parts of UK for example) but not really comparing like with like i.e. weatherboard houses = high maintenance vs brick, windows usually not wooden frames. So some things are cheaper than here, possibly less maintenance, the tenant pays the rates, insurance is definitely a lot cheaper but rubbish yields so it might balance out.

[PTWhatAGreatForum]

AMI give me the best deal.

AMI gave me the best deal too on contents and commercial motor vehicle. I was with them a week. I called up the day I received the policy documents and got some useless (and then some CSR) who got some crazy idea in her head that I was running a courier business and proceeded to cancel my commercial motor vehicle insurance with 14 days notice. I told her she was mistaken but she wasn't having a bar of it. She was going to throw her weight around come hell or high water.

After that experience I went back to State. (Ironically also part of IAG). A small amount I was saving was not worth the hassle and risk of dealing with loose units.

note - a manager there reviewed the call recording after my complaint. He apologised and said the CSR was in the wrong. But by then I had already moved back to State.

[speights boy]

IAG, not AIG.