Hi All,
I am from Melbourne west suburbs and hunting for Home Insurance to ensure my family has a place to live in case the unthinkable happens to our property.
A bit of a rant…I just did an online quote with AAMI(not sure if I am allowed to mention the company). At the rebuild estimate section for my house that was built about 4 years ago it came to more than 3 times the amount I paid for my build. Of course with the estimate increasing the premium increases. This does not make sense. The sum insured they are estimating to rebuild my house, I could easily buy in the inner city(Melbourne) nearly $1M. To be fair the range of the estimate was $600K - $1M but $600K is still more than twice the amount I paid to build my house.
So my options were put the Minimum and I could get a payout of $600K if my house burns down according to the online customer service person.
Then they have another option Complete Replacement Cover.They will replace your house at whatever the cost it is at the time to rebuild. Of course this adds to the premium. So their estimates is already high, now I ask them the question if my house burns down will they pay me according to their estimate ($600K+) or by the builders estimate(~$300k). An the answer was, "by how much it will cost to rebuild and you can only cash out if your land is inhabitable".
Sorry for the rant.
Any recommendations for a home insurance would be most welcome.
J
From my experience, AAMI is the only Insurance Company that is address specific and not suburb.
Please try again to obtain an online quote using your neighbours address across the road (using the same specs as your house) or next to you and don't be surprised that it is $300 - $600 cheaper considering your immediate neighbour are 3 meters away from you.
IMO it is a big rort.
You can play ignorant and say why is it e.g. $300 cheaper for the same house with the same specs 3 meters away and they might honour you the difference. It has happened to me once, that is saved the difference which was substantial. When I played that game again, they didn't. They said that there are many factors like water piping etc. Which in my view is complete BS! Do they have the Eng. Plans of the underground Water System? I doubt it!
Generally, Insurance Companies by default factor another 25% extra payment (from your est value/normal premium) on top upon for a rebuild. AAMI doesn't do this. It is either a a fixed value or CRC. However you need to confirm.
I would IMO opt for CRC which is generally ~$70 PA extra on top of your premium. Not worth the headaches to opt for a fixed value. Especially, with the current, rip-off living expenses.. trades to fix etc. Even if you add another $100K for your rebuild, the premium may go up by $70 anyway! Therefore the CRC charges offset and covers for all.
I'd love to read what they cover (or not) over construction expenses considering they rant CRC! However god forbid if that happens.
Cheers