What's up with Car Comprehensive Insurance Price Rises?

themirror on 20/01/2020 - 18:33

My car comprehensive insurance premium has gone up by 40% (950 -> 1.3k) since last year. I've moved to a "safer" suburb and the car is now garaged (got a $80 reduction last year when I moved house).

So I started checking other cars, from Corolla's to BMWs, old and new. Tried different ages, but across the board insurance prices have gone up substantially.

Some details:
NRMA
Sydney Inner West
Age 27 / Male
16k Ford, nothing special
No claims, etc, etc.

Tried other insurance companies (minus the budget ones and AAMI), but overall NRMA was the cheapest, but still a huge increase.

Does anyone have any insight why? I can see why people are going 3rd party.

Automotive Car Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • Ocker on 20/01/2020 - 18:46
    +2

    Premium increase will only be part of the increase. The other part which is usually over-looked is the fact the sum insured decreases with the age of the vehicle

    • kerfuffle on 21/01/2020 - 06:11

      The other part which is usually over-looked is the fact the sum insured decreases with the age of the vehicle

      Been waiting for this to happen to my 8-year-old car since it turned 5, no luck so far …

  • Austaurean on 20/01/2020 - 19:29
    +1

    Yes..

    My Subaru went up $100. Even though reduced 'agreed value' by 3,500 and i went from 17.5% to 20% loyalty and years bonus.. im on rating one which is also automatically 'protected for life' due to a zero claims history, also no demerit gains etc Plus im into my 40's..

    • Shiq1 on 23/01/2020 - 22:37

      whoa triple titanium status!

      • Austaurean on 23/01/2020 - 22:40

        Yep but still doesn't help lol

  • HardlyCharly on 20/01/2020 - 20:15
    +2

    Blame the ridiculously expensive headlight assemblies and sensor arrays on newer vehicles. All it takes is a minor fender bender to have to replace thousands of dollars worth of gear, plus fixing any panels/paint on top of that. You may argue that your own car doesn't have these things, but you can't say that about any future car you may hit. The expense is definitely becoming very high in any case.

    • cloudy on 20/01/2020 - 20:32

      yea this, remember your car is only insured for XX thousand. but your 3rd party is usually insured for 5mill. That's where the big cost of insure lies, in what people are hitting and how much it costs to fix

      • crentist on 20/01/2020 - 22:08
        +2

        I guess the real bargain would be to get your moneys worth and crash into any supercars you see on the road

        • cloudy on 20/01/2020 - 22:31

          lol, and that's also the other myth. Supercars are the evil to insurers (they are rare and costly). It's the common and costly which are scary. So avoid vehicles with custom fits, think ambos, cop cars, fire engines anything along those lines are all expensive and common.

  • Ugly on 20/01/2020 - 22:00
    +2

    Gotta make up for the hits they are taking on home insurance due to bushfires.

    • resubaehtgnolhcs on 20/01/2020 - 22:33

      ^ This! The bush fires, or any other large scale natural disaster, will see insurance companies increase all premiums to recoup their losses.

    • themirror on 20/01/2020 - 22:58

      Don't think it's bushfires - my renewal was a few months ago before it all started. Someone suggested last years hailstorms though. Question is, once they recoup their costs, do premiums slowly start coming down again?

      • apsilon on 21/01/2020 - 06:10

        LOL, they never come down even if they did recoup their payouts. What incentive do they have to lower them? Anyway, there's going to be increasing fires and storms which means constant payouts which means constant, and probably growing, insurance jumps.

  • netjock on 20/01/2020 - 22:32
    +1

    Rip off Australia. They are working on how to tax you for air right now.

    • resubaehtgnolhcs on 20/01/2020 - 22:35

      All things considered we are a lucky country and have things pretty good here.

      • netjock on 20/01/2020 - 22:46

        Well if you want to say all things including third world countries. Don't worry, cost of insurance will make us live like those in the third world soon.

        First world salaries less out of this world insurance premiums equals third world disposable income. We all know it is coming with the bush fires. We're all paying for it in some kind of round about way. PNG is sending fire fighters to help us out but they ain't going to be sending us foreign aid.

        • daydream on 21/01/2020 - 00:03

          It's cheaper to get things fixed/repaired in the third world ;-)

          • netjock on 21/01/2020 - 09:05

            @daydream: That is why you get health insurance if gross premium less expected claims, the net is less than medicare levy then go for it.

            For anything major might as well go to Thailand and get it done.

            The British are dumping their dementia relatives there. I am NOT giving people ideas.

      • crentist on 21/01/2020 - 04:07

        That's such an incredibly general statement that it does nothing but passively accept unnecessary crap that makes Australia worse for no reason. You've said nothing related to the topic of car insurance or the comment about Australia being a rip off, even whether you disagree or not.

        "All things considered we are a lucky country" lumps the bad with the good, even when they are completely unrelated. It's not an explanation for why some things might be a rip off, just a blanket excuse for why you'd bend over and accept it without a thought.

        Like yea you might get fined hundreds for not having a train ticket because the machines were broken, but at least the beaches are nice hey?

        • netjock on 21/01/2020 - 11:21

          If you want to see all that is wrong with Australia just watch the TV show called rip off Britain. Pretty much the same shoddy stuff that goes on there goes on here.

          If you want me to outline all that is wrong is just a waste of time because we all have a big list but you know we're just too proud to admit it.

          Just like the possibly $100bn it is going to cost to rebuild after the bush fires is going to come from some magical place and not from everyone who lives here?

          • crentist on 21/01/2020 - 16:00

            @netjock: Yea I was agreeing with you, disagreeing with the other person. There's plenty of unjustified crap, that's why I don't like a blanket excuse that simply says to put up with the crap because some completely unrelated stuff is pretty good.

            Just like the possibly $100bn it is going to cost to rebuild after the bush fires is going to come from some magical place and not from everyone who lives here?

            I don't see an issue with spending a little extra to fix our land. Because what would be the alternative? Leaving half the state as a pile of ash?
            I'd personally be fine contributing to whatever the cost is, as long as it's the actual cost of a long term fix. Instead of the bodgy patch up that will make a few party mates and insurance execs rich and burn down again next year, that it inevitably would be as long as the guys in charge deny any climate issues and prioritise personal profit over all else.

            Your suggestion that we shouldn't be paying for repairs is kinda part of the problem. Of course we should be. We should spend more to make sure it's done right. We should have been spending more already to prevent the extent of damage that has occurred.

            The priority shouldn't simply be more dollars in your own pocket, but also whether dollars spent or saved actually benefit ourselves and our surroundings. Some things are worth spending on.
            But we have a bit too much focus on saving a buck right now that we end up making things more unpleasant, AND paying more for it in the long run.

            • netjock on 21/01/2020 - 18:30

              @crentist: Apologies if I came across as disagreeing.

              Long term fix would be to spend $10bn to do prevention. Some people are in denial about whether it is preventable or over the fact that it might be preventable in the first place.

              I think I would disagree with you regarding money in your own pocket. The problem with the system we have right now is people don't pay the full cost. Say for example the idea that petrol excise actually pays for all the infrastructure and not a congestion or mileage charge? Some insurance companies are doing mileage limit based policies for good prices but I am assuming people have range anxiety.

  • Davo1111 on 20/01/2020 - 23:14

    same thing, had to shop around. Not as good as last year.

  • Euphemistic on 21/01/2020 - 05:32

    I’m surprised you are surprised.

  • Ocker on 21/01/2020 - 08:14

    In Australia our premiums are increased if we are involved in an accident (only). In USA premiums are also increased if you have a recorded conviction for a moving violation - speeding etc.

    • robberbutton on 21/01/2020 - 17:01

      Premiums also increase if you incur demerit points in Aus. It's just that most people don't tell their insurers when it happens…

  • Austaurean on 21/01/2020 - 08:14

    I tried a few online quotes, but only one was close to what I have and
    even then, once I added an extra it was no longer as good, plus the agreed value was less, so not worth changing.

    Also when you have all of your insurances with one company, no other company can rival the renewal for an individual polity.
    And if I dumped one of the insurances, I would lose bonus discount on other policies.. so there would be an even bigger loss than what I might gain.
    home, contents, 2 x comprehensive, 2 x CTP,2 x road side assist, etc…

    I would have to jump ship as a bundle to see if it was worth it to change.

  • garffi on 21/01/2020 - 15:16

    I was comparing insurance prices recently and found that changing my address reduced the fee by almost $500! There has been a lot of car theft happening in my suburb which probably explains why. Maybe your new suburb isn't as safe as you thought?

  • Shiq1 on 23/01/2020 - 22:42

    Its interesting

    I've just received my renewal from my previous insurer and they literally doubled my premium from last year… from $3.5k (yes expensive car) to just over $7k, didn't have any claims last year and driven the vehicle <5000 kms. called them up and got the "we got screwed by our underwriters". Called a broker and managed to get me a better cover for $1k less ($2500) this year so I'm quite happy.

    my mate who lives in the next suburb got a $115 reduction from his previous insurance when his renewal came through for a relatively new 5.0 mustang

  • CMH on 24/01/2020 - 03:07

    Just got a renewal notice.

    $253. Full comprehensive $750 excess (not shown). Agreed value of peanuts though.

    https://imgur.com/a/Aj2IQI8

    A real bargain!

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