I recently got a renewal letter for my contents insurance, and it was a bit high. Called them up and they reduced it by about $50 which was good, and in line with other competitors.
But when I go for a new quote online direct with the same insurer, it is still $40 cheaper to set it up new as opposed to submitting the renewal.
Are there any issues with doing it this way? I've always swapped insurers but never opted to stay with the same.
Thanks.
Thanks!
Nope, do it all the time.
I usually sign up for home insurance, get the discount and then usually get prompted for x% on car as well.
Home is approx 500, new member discount brings it down to about 400.
Car is approx 800 renew, , 700 new member, > 600 for new member + home combo discount.
Sign up first with whatever is cheaper, then you get a bigger discount on the multi for more expensive insurance.
I rang RACV and asked this exact question, and the guy said go for it. I ended up changing insurers anyway, when I found an even better deal.
I did this with RACQ but had to relink to my existing account by logging a support job - otherwise it didn't show the new policy, only my expired old policy. I needed it listed with my other policies that were not expired.
It took 90 days for this to occur… suffice to say I was flabbergasted when they said it would take this long. I said to the phone support "are you f$#%&g kidding?" and she threatened to hang up for bad language, lol.
You really think it was that person on the phone's fault and that they ought to be abused?
The support person is not there to hear your foul language or for you to vent at them.
You think it is funny that you abused the phone support person?
You swore. And no they are not there to hear you swear.
Home insurance makes sense because very few people can afford it if there house burns down.
But I think you should re-think having contents insurance.
I think one should only insure what you can't afford to lose.
If the house burns down, I will need to replace all the furniture and white goods, not to mention clothing. All that adds up very quickly to a few tens of thousands of dollars - I would think very few people would be able to afford that at a moment's notice.
I do see what you mean but if the house burns down you should have some time before needing to buy things to put in your new/repaired house.
It's not just house burning down, can be theft or other types of loss that doesn't need a long rebuilding/repair period.
@John Kimble: Indeed theft… of what?
Not much to replace stuff they can carry out.
Anything of real value ought to be insured separately or locked up properly.
Contents is everything that comes out of you were to pick up your house and tip it on its side. These things add up extremely quickly. If I had to replace my whole house brand new, there is no way I could afford that on a whim.
Even if I have to purchase them over time, that is still a lot of money to spend (say in a year). My current house contents would easily add up to about $50000. At a premium of $300 per year, I would need to self insure for 166 years to make it worthwhile to not get contents insurance.
Would you need to keep receipts of everything you have?
Where do most people keep receipts? In their house. If house burn down?
Yes, I would expect most people would only insure what they can't afford to lose???
$90 bucks they were trying to scam you out of straight away…. go somewhere else.
Take your business elsewhere
Time to wake up OP !
Most of us have been doing this for years
As I said in my OP, I have been moving from one to another for years, it was whether I could remain with the same insurer that I was unsure of, as it had never been cheaper to remain and I wanted to ensure that I wasn’t voiding anything by starting a new policy number.
Also, if I hadn’t “woken up”, would I have asked, or just renewed?
Most insurance companies prey on your laziness. Some firms are especially dodgy with their auto renew. When I call up to tell them not to they play stupid, like "you know your policy will get cancelled" like it would right there and then not at end of the term.
Yes, Its a wake up call to you
Always take the cheapest option my friend.
There is no need to ask
Insurers openly state that give an online discount so take it!
There's no problem in signing up new policy instead of renewing existing. I even told my previous insurance and they suggested to sign up new policy as they couldn't match that price on the phone.
Yes, I always start a quote again rather than take their renewal quote and it's always cheaper. No issues so far.
No