I Need Help to Choose Car Insurance in Melbourne

LTheFatCat on 27/11/2019 - 09:23

Hi everyone,

We have just moved to Melbourne from Adelaide and just not sure which is the best insurance company to go with in Melbourne?

I had a look around and Budget Direct seems to be the cheapest, agreed value on your car can be sorted via phone call but at the end of the day is how they support you when you need them is matter the most imho.

I used RAC in Perth and RAA in Adelaide, they are not the best (price wise) but local companies so their supports were spot on from our experience. My question then should I do same thing by signing up RACV or there is another company here in Melbourne that provide similar/ better services?

Thank you in advance.

Automotive Car Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • Skramit on 27/11/2019 - 09:45
    +1

    It really depends on your car specifics and suburb. Simply shop around, get lots and lots of quotes.

    In my experience RACV is usually very competitively priced, as is Allianz. I have my two cars insured with these two because RACV is cheaper for one and Allianz is cheaper for the other.

    Different underwriters have different pricing for different cars. So nobody on here can tell you which insurer is best, you simply need to get quotes for your specific make/model/year and location.

  • iforgotmysocks on 27/11/2019 - 09:49
    +5

    If you get car insurance you'll be forgoing an opportunity to make a forum post about having an accident and not having insurance.

    • Skramit on 27/11/2019 - 10:40
      +1

      OP is planning on having insurance for 1 year, then letting it lapse, getting into an accident a week after it lapses then posting whether or not they can quickly renew insurance for coverage.

      • oscargamer on 27/11/2019 - 15:49

        In this example, the op would still be insured.

        • Skramit on 27/11/2019 - 15:55

          Yeah but it’s worthy of an epic OzB thread.

  • SlavOz on 27/11/2019 - 10:14
    +1

    Don't think you need to go with an Insurer who's located in the same State as you. Most major car insurers in Australia are national and they'll offer you the same level of support wherever you are in the country.

    The industry is very heavily regulated and under immense pressure from watchdogs, so there's really no point in wondering which one insurer is going to be the most trustworthy or reliable - they're all the same in that regard. If your claim gets rejected by one insurer, it's likely that every insurer would've rejected it too. They all have very similar exclusions and criteria (of course that depends on the specific policy you get so read the PDS carefully).

    Just go with the provider who had the cheapest cover, unless there's another particular feature or benefit you need. All depends on your needs.

    • GG57 on 27/11/2019 - 10:36

      Yep.
      RACV car insurance is issued by Insurance Manufacturers of Australia, which appears to be a joint venture between RACV (30%) and Insurance Australia Group (IAG) (70%).
      IAG has similar arrangements with NRMA, SGIO, SGIC, CGU, Swann Insurance and WFI.
      And then IAG has a reinsurance relationship with Berkshire Hathaway, one of the ten largest listed companies in the world by market capitalisation.

    • Diji1 on 27/11/2019 - 11:32
      -1

      The industry is very heavily regulated and under immense pressure from watchdogs, so there's really no point in wondering which one insurer is going to be the most trustworthy or reliable - they're all the same in that regard.

      So they've been doing a terrible job but don't worry, they're all the same, so the "competition" is completely pointless and just leads to massive waste and inefficiency as all the competitors pretend to be better than each other while actually being the same and a bunch of CEOs get paid your money for doing nothing better than anyone else.

      In fact, if they are all the same, then every additional competing business adds costs to the consumer as a smaller pool of customers pays for all the business costs and the pointless CEO and board who are offering the same service as everyone else.

  • try2bhelpful on 27/11/2019 - 13:23

    We have Budget Direct. They have some good options if you do low kms.

    • Banana on 28/11/2019 - 08:46

      Have you had a claim with them?

      My family was with them for about 8 years until we had to do a claim, their customer service + process really turned me off I ended up taking most of our cars else where. Wonder if things have improved since?

      • try2bhelpful on 28/11/2019 - 10:28

        No claim yet. Thanks for the heads up. Exactly what was the issue when you tried to claim? Did they refuse or just give you the run around.

        • Banana on 28/11/2019 - 13:29

          Had an at fault claim after being a customer with them for years, the customer service rep had a terrible attitude about it (unhelpful, condescending) + difficult with the repair.

          At the same time I took out third party with RACV and their rep had a completely different approach when it came to claiming time. Eventually as a family, we decided the saving with Budget Direct wasn't worth it for the stress so most of us moved.

          • try2bhelpful on 28/11/2019 - 13:41

            @Banana: Thanks for info. We are looking at House and Contents insurance at the moment. Even though they are cheap we will, probably, look elsewhere.

    • asembler on 24/01/2020 - 13:14

      Yes, I agree with the other comment - you get what you pay for. They will gladly take your money, and then screw you when it's time for them to pay out or make quality repairs. Stay away!

  • Foxtail on 28/11/2019 - 09:33

    Have or 2014 Mercedes C Class coupe insured with Woolworths Car Insurance with screen replacement, could not find cheaper anywhere and all done online, a friend did too, his car was written off after accident they paid him in a week.

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