Ambiguous Registration Details and Insurance?

bobbified on 15/03/2021 - 11:56

All this talk about car insurance - After receiving my renewal notice for comprehensive car insurance from RACV yesterday, I was just in the process of doing new quotes with different insurers to check that the renewal is still the best value and noticed significant differences in the premium amount and ranges for the agreed amount.

My vehicle is the first of an updated shape and was released in the second half of a year. That overlapped the period that the previous shape was still sold for a few months.

When I checked my existing policy, I realised that the vechile listed is actually the previous model. I have to say that when I did the original quote, I must've (wrongly) made the assumption that registration tool on the insurer's website would pull the correct details from the VicRoads database. I checked the registration details on the VicRoads website and it's not clear whether it's the current shape or the previous shape. It comes up with "YEAR COLOUR MAKE MODEL", but not the shape code or model year". The VIN is correct and contains the correct model code for the year.

While running quotes through different insurer websites, I've noticed that the others all come up with the previous model too. Has anyone else come across this? Is there more information behind the VicRoads portal that the insurer can see, but we can't? Or is the information limited and the insurer is only showing the first record that the limited information from VicRoads matches on their database? I've had to manually enter my own vehicle's details at the start of each quote.

And for those who are too lazy to check other insurers each time they get their renewal, it's definitely worth it. I'm going to be switching from RACV to AAMI this year to save over $900 on the premium. Given are both large companies with relatively decent reputations, I'm not shortchanging myself when it comes to policy features and claims handling.

Automotive

Comments

  • Euphemistic on 15/03/2021 - 12:06
    +4

    What did your insurer say when you rang them?

    • bobbified on 15/03/2021 - 12:11
      +1

      ha! I've been around long enough to know that that would be the first question! 😆

      The insurer reps don't know - other than what the information their system pulls up (that's incorrect). I've even called VicRoads (enjoyed their hold music for almost 20 minutes!) and they can't tell me very much also. They said that the information they hold is what appears in the Registration Enquiry online and there's not much else they can tell me.

  • kanmen on 15/03/2021 - 12:39

    100% with you on changing from RACV. I am so disappointed by their increasing premiums. When I first got my new car at 18 I thought it was acceptable that the premium was high given it was a new car and I was under the age of 25. I expected my premium to significantly decrease after the age of 25 but I was sorely disappointed that it didnt, it only increased even though my agreed value kept decreasing too.

    I've had 0 claims still, I'm over 25 and I refuse to pay a premium over $1000 for a base level insurance even though RACV says my family gets no claim and multi-policy discounts.

    • dazweeja on 15/03/2021 - 13:03
      +1

      It might be worth calling them and seeing if they can bring down the price. I called and told them another insurer's quote was $100 cheaper, and they managed to drop my premiums by about that. They just asked a few more questions that weren't included in the online quote process.

      • kanmen on 15/03/2021 - 13:06

        Yeah have tried that but for me their premiums are about $300 more dearer than others so they apparently can't beat that. I think RACV in general are expensive. Disappointed to have been with them for over 8 years to have to change but it is what it is. And every year it was more expensive than the others even with us trying to negotiate but now I just can't justify it.

      • bobbified on 15/03/2021 - 13:46
        +2

        It might be worth calling them and seeing if they can bring down the price.

        I just asked and they flat out said they're not willing to negotiate - they didn't even bother asking how much cheaper I'm looking. So fine, I take my business somewhere else. $900 is a third of RACV's premium (for a $41,000 agreed value) and about half of what I will be paying at the new insurer!

    • bobbified on 15/03/2021 - 13:45

      I've actually had one of the cheaper premiums from RACV for the last few years, but for this year, their premium seems to have gone up while other insurers have gone down, making that difference quite significant. (Having said that, I wouldn't switch to a budget insurance company for a few hundred bucks). I'd only switch (like in this case) where the other insurer is a large reputable one that I'm confident would 'come to the party' when it comes time for a claim. I'm not a fan of surprises when it comes to insurance! haha

    • EightImmortals on 15/03/2021 - 19:17
      +1

      It's called 'loyalty tax' and they all do it. Pays to shop around if the premiums are too high or each year at renewal time.

  • Broke-Ken on 15/03/2021 - 12:42

    My vehicle is the first of an updated shape and was released in the second half of a year. That overlapped the period that the previous shape was still sold for a few months.
    The VIN is correct and contains the correct model code for the year.

    Was it an updated shape, or just a facelift? Updated shape would get a different VIN/chassis code, where as a facelift will have the same chassis code.

    Usually with a facelift, it will show the current year and an MY— of the following year.

    I have found that the rego look ups on insurances or any rego look up websites, less accurate than finding the correct model.

    • bobbified on 15/03/2021 - 13:01

      Was it an updated shape, or just a facelift?

      It's an updated shape - a completely different vehicle. I'm just wondering what it uses to pull up the wrong vehicle information. I guess it now means that I have to be careful when I use my registration to look up car parts etc on other websites.

  • JDMcarfan on 15/03/2021 - 15:43
    +2

    The entering of a number plate is just a simple tool to help you find your car and isn't something to be relied on. In the event of an accident the blame and onus would be on you and given you incorrectly selected the model of vehicle, they'd likely only offer cover to the value of the discontinued car (if at all given how much insurers will try weazel out of claims).

    Given that the contacted insurers are all showing the wrong model (MY wise) then it'd likely be a result of your registration office recording things incorrectly (or not having the new model in their DB at the time). Fixing this is near useless and will not give any benefit really as they get it wrong all the time, (My 1998 year car is recorded as a 1993, likely because someone cant read their own writing).

    I'd get this rectified with the insurer ASAP and ensure that the correct year is recorded on insurance paperwork

    • bobbified on 15/03/2021 - 16:39

      The entering of a number plate is just a simple tool to help you find your car and isn't something to be relied on.

      While I agree with you for the purposes of insurance, one would hope that the information held by the motor registry is correct. In this case, it seems like the information they hold is "correct" in the sense that it's the right year and model, but doesn't specify the actual model year. They do, however, have the correct VIN so worst case, the manufacturer can confirm.

      I'd get this rectified with the insurer ASAP and ensure that the correct year is recorded on insurance paperwork

      This has now been corrected with the insurer.

      • JDMcarfan on 15/03/2021 - 17:21
        +1

        "correct" in the sense that it's the right year and model, but doesn't specify the actual model year

        yeah precisely. I'd work off the fact that the registration office only cares about the year (but records the build month too when registering the car) and the weight of it for tax purposes (at least in NSW).
        The person at the counter may've been lazy and entered 01/xx and hence given you the wrong MY results for insurers, but given that car's are getting heavier with every generation you might have saved some $$$ by not being put into the next tax bracket. One way to confirm is to also use SCA (or other auto retailers), find my car function and see what it recommends

        This has now been corrected with the insurer.
        Glad to hear!

        • bobbified on 16/03/2021 - 12:59

          but given that car's are getting heavier with every generation you might have saved some $$$ by not being put into the next tax bracket.

          Got to admit that that's an interesting way to look at things! 😆 Made me curious so I looked it up. Realised that Vic only uses "Vehicle Type" to work out the rego fee, whereas NSW uses both Vehicle Type and weight. Sometimes, I think the states just like to do things a little differently to each other to confuse everyone! LOL.

          I looked up the weight of the car too and found that the "current" vehicle is actually lighter than the previous version! .

  • bargain huntress on 15/03/2021 - 16:11

    does it matter?

    • Muzeeb on 15/03/2021 - 16:29
      +1

      For a newish car (less than 5 years) - yes
      Between 5 and 10 years - maybe
      Greater than 10 years - I doubt much

    • bobbified on 16/03/2021 - 12:20
      +1

      Well, if I was to make a claim and the insurance company asked why the vehicle listed on my policy doesn't match that on the VicRoads database, I don't think it'll go down too well if I went back and said "does it matter?"

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