Hi
I have received email offer from Coles regarding beating my current Comprehensive Ins provider and when i got the online quote it is actually cheaper by about $16/month.
How is the Coles Comprehensive ins service? Anyone has any experience with them? Please advise. Thanks
Bingle comes down to $62!!
Actually what happens is when you try to get a Coles quote online, they give you a rough quote, they on the right hand side there will be an option saying 'If we didn't beat your current provider, apply here for a Price Beat. When you click on it, that will ask you how much do you pay?? You can put ANY amount your wish there!!!! I pay $66 but i put $60. The next screen says new quote is $50!!! and that too because i am paying monthly, if i pay yearly it is only $495.
Fine until you try to claim from them.
That is the risk, of course.
That said, I made a claim with budget direct when they were the new kids on the block years ago and it was smooth.
Anybody made a claim to offer feedback?
think some budget car insurance only insure safe drivers or no more than one accident in the past 5 years, eg woolies
Wife had one claim with Coles and moved back instantly to AAMi. Not worth the hassle to chase claim and worry about no payout due to technicality. Just our experience, others may have better luck.
Product Review is where frustrated and poorly treated customers go to vent their complaints. People rarely go there to say good things about insurance companies. It is not an accurate representation at all of all customers experiences.
As for Coles. They are owned by IAG. There policy is underwritten by the same company as NRMA, CGU and SGIO.
Claiming from them is slightly more difficult than RACV but ultimately the same result will be achieved albiet a little slower. You won't deal with the best call centre staff and you will need to put some effort into chasing up your claim occasionally. They're better than Budget but not as good as RACV.
The reality is provided you are honest and answer questions correctly all insurance companies will be the same. We live in Australia with decent insurance regulation… companies can't deny claims for random reasons.
Here is my experiences when making a claim:
Car accident with AAMI - lodge a claim over the phone - book a day for assessment - leave car, given free taxi ride to home or to work, car ready within days, call to you and arrange free taxi to pick up car, a call few days after to ensure you are happy.
Car accident with Woolies - must lodge the claim on the net, wait for a call anytime within the next few days, spoken on the phone, a consent form to fill in to give consent for claim history check, so as to validate if there is a policy (after an accident), wait another week after form is completed and sent, really worry about the claim will not be paid, wait, wait, wait, keep calling, told to wait, wait, issue with claim history - record shows few accidents in 5 years but explained none is at fault. Not enough detail, must ask previous insurer myself to provide details of previous accidents., wasted a day to contact previous insurer and waited for another week, wait, wait and wait another few weeks. Staff who handled the case was on leave, made a complaint to the Insurance ombudsman who is very helpful, got promise to be solved asap. Car fixed with dodgy job - my mistake, was bowed down as tow truck driver took me to this repairer who offered complimentary car. Otherwise, I can't get home. The repair was finally done in 3 months.
Woolworths is underwritten by Hollard. They like to check customers haven't failed their duty of disclosure. This is annoying and takes time. Did you list those not at fault claims on your policy?
@tes2131: Answered all the questions as honest as possible when policy was taken.
I had no claim record as owner but the other driver ie my wife had 3 which was explained to the customer service when buying the policy. Once she was hit by the other driver at fault. Another one she paid excess because her parked car was hit and offender did not leave any note. Last one was, one accident a long time ago but I was not 100% sure the dates and whether it was exactly over 5 years,
After hearing all that, customer service put zero claim (at fault collision) in the past 5 years and finalised the quotes. Gave me competitive price and sold 3 car policies at one time over the phone.
It only becomes important only when claim is made and responsibility falls on the customer to check if detail is correct.
Woolies obtained claim history from IAG. Record only shows the date and half a sentence of the nature of each claim. It does not show who drives the vehicle and accident details. So I was told to prove all information is correct in order to have a policy And for the claim to proceed.
Everything was answered in good faith when buying the policy. The policies are black and white, but sometimes things are grey. Eg. Car was hit when parked. Cannot identify the other driver - does it count as at fault collision. If accident happens 4 years and 11 months - not exactly 5 years yet. Can the insurance company denies a claim on the technicality. The accident was disclosed but not 100% on the date . The conversation was supposed to have been recorded but only the insurance company will have the record.
Thanks God all were ok at the end? it would be easily $20k out of pocket if claim was denied. You can imagine I had many sleepless night and would not like anyone to go through the same, Never had same issue with NRMA or AAMI after the family are insured with either for decades.
That does suck. The reason why your claim was prodded was it was high value and the rep failed to adequately list your claim. In the end it was covered as it had to be because you did comply.
I've had issues claiming with AAMI. Car was so poorly repaired to the point it could not be rectified. AAMI refused to total loss the car despite independent engineering reports from the car manufacturer and repairers of both my choice and theirs stating that the initial aami repaired had failed so bad the car was no longer repairable.
My sister claimed through Woolworths..was asked to provide claim history and all was good from there. It was initially quite concerning and worrying.
2 different issues….in the end insurance companies are all the same. All as bad as each other.
Most of my posts on Product Review are positive. If people are getting a bad experience then it is valid for them to post it up there. I don't look at the ratings overall I look at the individual experiences. Insurance is very stressful as you don't know how you will be treated until you make a claim and it may involve amounts it is difficult to just write off. The insurance companies have the upper hand because they make the choice on if they pay out or find some technicality to stop payment. Without places like Product Review they would probably be worse.
I tried to improve on my current RACV policy with both Coles and Woolworths and they came out DEARER! I will admit I didn't notice the price beat thing on Coles site.
In the end, I figure I am better off with RACV. It is expensive, and I have not had a claim for almost 20 years I think. I would like to reduce the cost, but the wear and tear on my nerves with dealing with idiots in insurance companies is not worth the saving to be honest. I am convinced these idiots attend training courses every week, just to learn how to say NO, and to cleanse them of any customer service notions they might have acquired in previous employment.
Get a quote from Bingle first, which is usually cheaper, then make Coles beat it.
I've done this the last two years and got a great price both times.
If you have FlyBuys, don't forget to put that in as well.