Looking to renew comprehensive car insurance.
Based on experience, which one people prefer to buy
Budget direct , Woolworths or Nrma.
Best Comprehensive Car Insurance
lambaus on 11/08/2023 - 09:54
Comments
i have got the quotes, just want to know which one is reliable if i have to put a claim if there is an accident
i am getting 1363 with woolworths, 1100 with budget direct and 1341 with nrma. very confused which one to get
me, I'd go NRMA
.
reliable
Insurance arent a car, if it's in the PDS, then they honour it. I had Aami and Allianz, had no issues with them during the caliming process, currently using WW, and haven't made any claims yet but their customer service is not easy to reach for small issues.
Based on what I seen in Ozb, Budget direct, they stop you from reweing if you made a claim.
No, not really. Company culture plays into it (from experience, previously worked in insurance investigations, partner has worked for 3 of the big 4 parent companies), though that's really hard to account for as a buyer.
Remember to use incognito tabs too as if they detect you are looking around they will increase the prices. This goes for lots of online shopping too.
budget
you have to shop around, for 1 car NRMA was cheaper for the other it was budget.
Also changing postcodes can have massive change in premiumsI've never had issue with claim with them in the past.
I use AAMI, their comprehensive was cheaper than 3rd party for me, just ~$380 annually.
Someone rear ended me at the red light (just bumper bender though) and the not at fault claim process was smooth.
Funnily enough I had a weekend car on a cheapo Woolworths policy, had to make it claim and it was surprisingly super easy with good communication. Repair was arranged quickly too. I was shocked. No idea if that's still the case or if they still are 3rd party insurers to the same mob.
I do not use any of the 3 you have listed (Budget direct , Woolworths or Nrma) but Ill talk about my current insurer RACV so it may be worth getting a quote from them too.
I use RACV and have had not-at-fault incident against me (hit and run, but I had a witness so they went to police station with me, wrote a statement, pulled the offenders rego, and we caught them luckily), they have covered me completely no excess paid (waivered due to not-at-fault), very fast, also gave me a free hire car and the work done was of good quality (YMMV). I do not believe they are the cheapest but their services are very good and from what ive heard from others they also say the same. Insurance for me is having a smooth experience when I actually have to claim, not necessarily the cheapest. Its like buying a ladder, id rather drop a lot of money on a great ladder then grab a bad one for cheap.
i am not after the cheapest. i am after good service actually. Been with budget direct for very long therefore looking for options. RACV is unfortunately not available in sydney.
Fair point, good luck on your search and its great to know you value service/treatment for your insurance! if you ever move to Melb/VIC definitely look up RACV as an option. I'm sure there's a RACV equivalent/comparable insurance in Sydney.
Depends on how fastidious you are. If you want a repair that's imperceptible, select choice of repairer. If you're not fussy, go with the cheapest. Lately I've been going with Australia Post (QBE) and the younger drivers I know are with ROLLiN'. I always get choice of repairer. Good cheap body repairers are impossible to find.
select choice of repairer
This doubled the price for me, got it nevertheless :) Allianz
I have just signed up with Rollin Insurance. Im not sure how good they are but they had given me agreed value, $800 excess, hire car when at fault, paying $70 per month (they only do monthly can't pay yearly). I was getting about $1300 to $1400 with other companies (NRMA, SUNCORP, RACQ,AAMI) whilst Rollin would be $840 per year. One downside is that they have $3000 excess if unlisted driver drives the car, which is quite high compared to other who are around $1200 excess.
I've been with Rollin' from Covid times, their prices have been pretty cheap compared to any of the regular insurers. No claims yet, but a couple of friends whom I referred had quite a good claim experience. Communication was smooth and quick, they arranged for a towaway, provided a replacement car and completed the process quickly once the car was written off.
They also got windshield cover by default, if I remember.
Can't say I've had any issue with NRMA myself. They'll cover anyone who has permission to drive your car too
try Auspost car insurance which has a current $75 off online purchase as well as 14% cashback
i found them cheapest for comprehensive .
Bingle consistently has the best price for me.
Attractively low premiums, then I checked some customer reviews… https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/bingle
Bingle use same repairer as Aami
Bingle is a low-cost arm of Suncorp. AAMI, Apia, GIO, Shannons are all Suncorp. Capital S.M.A.R.T Repairs likely has contracts with multiple partners.
@sumyungguy: This is correct. I'm with Bingle and had an accident. Repair was carried out via Capital SMART who has a corporate deal with Suncorp iirc
NRMA, never had an issue and we have three cars and the house insured with them. My daughter has done a no fault claim on her motor vehicle and I’ve had two claims on the house, first one for storm damage and the second for theft and they were great to deal with.
I just did a huge shop around online last month. People's Choice Credit Union (CGU) came out cheaper beating my WW policy by $40 a month for comprehensive. Everything the sames as I reduced the excess, add agreed value and hire car. Lots of people I know have done claims and had no issues
Shannons…
Made a claim the whole thing was so easily dealt with and quick.Too many stories of issues with $2.00 insurance companies.
I agree with your second sentence completely.
However Shannons wouldn't touch me as I was under 28?29? At the time. The guy was very polite, but couldn't get off the phone fast enough. Things might have changed.
OPs comment is so vague "best". Choice of repairer might be a huge thing for you. It means zilch for me
Dude, you have to sit down and read the PDS cover to cover. Each one is different.
I have a pool of insurers I like, then get quotes.
Also define best?
By best i mean reliable.
i am not after cheap. Just need something reliable if something happens one day.
Some of the insurance companies just want premium and they knock back the claim when in need.
I rotate between RACWA and AAMI.
When the bill comes, I look at both and get a 3rd quote from one of Allianz, NRMA etc at random for comparison)
Budget, Coles, Bingle etc etc all fall into a lower tier. Whether or not that's true I'm not sure
But also, I've never made "proper" claim, so I'm not sure my recommendation is relevant.
I had budget direct. It was cheaper until I had to add a young driver to the policy. One of the important things to know with them was that they specifically state the will not cover unlisted drivers that live with you. So if you think you can game the system and not list your spouse, they won’t be covered if they drive the car, even if it’s only once. Most other insurers should cover that situation but … READ THE PDS.
Most insurers are OK for a once off claim. If you want to talk to a person about your claim, some insurers do not have call centres and it’s all online.
As a former insurance investigator with 30+ years experience, I always recommend insuring your car with your state's motoring organisation.
As a member of an organisation, your claim is far less likely to be investigated and hence settled faster.
Please excuse my ignorance here, by “state’s motoring organisation” what do you mean?
NRMA, RAVC, etc.
Thanks kerfuffle, that's exactly what I meant. 😊
As a matter of interest, my vehicles (and home and contents) have been insured with RAA in SA for decades but I am switching to NRMA because its premiums are significantly lower.
Need to define "best", price or quality of service?
I had claim with ww before and it was painless experience, just fill out the form, 2 phone call and an email a week or two later on to approve. All in the car was fixed within a month and that was during the Xmas break period that mos repairers shut down for 2 weeks.
I have friends with budget and took them a few months to fix their brand new suvRACV
Too many variables.
You need to put in the effort and get online quotes from each insurer and review their PDS.