RACV Insurance Getting Way More Expensive Every Year

shadow7412 on 17/10/2023 - 09:35
Last edited 17/10/2023 - 09:42 by 1 other user

I'm with RACV (at the moment), with comprehensive insurance on my Tesla Model S. It's not a cheap car, so insurance not being cheap is somewhat to be expected, but the rate at which the cost is increasing feels unreasonable to me.

Here's a quick table.

Year Cost of insurance
2020 $ 1,416
2021 $ 1,600
2022 $ 1,802
2023 $ 2,267

The cost seems to have gone up around $200 every year, except for this year where they casually doubled that figure. This is now ~$850 more per annum then what I signed up for. I personally think this is ridiculous, and it feels like a dirty trick to sting people not paying attention to their bills.

  • Is this actually unreasonable, or are my expectations misaligned with reality?
  • What insurance providers would be likely to give me a better deal (without sacrificing too much quality of service in the event I actually do need to claim)?
  • Are other people experiencing this growth in cost?
  • Is it worth giving them a call to attempt to haggle the price, or will they laugh me off the phone? Any tips for if I did go ahead with that option?

Notes:

  • I have not made any claims on this vehicle, or for the last decade.
  • I also have another vehicle insured with RACV (which gives me a small discount).
  • For laughs I decided to run an RACV quote against the same vehicle - and they want $3163! That's without some of the extras I get too…
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Comments

  • Muzeeb on 17/10/2023 - 09:42
    +11

    I've got 3 cars with comprehensive, 1 with TPF&T, house and contents and 2 boats with RACV. I've also got gold membership.

    I've experienced similar price rises to yourself but when I compare every year to other providers RACV is either still first or second on the list.

    This is just the new norm for insurance unfortunately.

    • shadow7412 on 17/10/2023 - 09:48
      +4

      The answer I didn't want to hear, and yet the answer I expected :(

      • Tamo on 18/10/2023 - 09:03

        Mate, mine’s almost $10K now. Complete Care, same car. 0 claims, rating 1 for life.

        • BigBirdy on 18/10/2023 - 09:26

          $10k to insure a (relatively mainstream) car? That's mad.
          I pay around $400/year for comprehensive on a 10yo X-Trail in regional Qld. House insurance 🤕

    • HeWhoKnows on 18/10/2023 - 07:49
      +3

      Agreed
      I did a comparison this year as well and found insurance costs had gone up around 80% for my building insurance.

      Pays to a shop around every year nowdays.

      But for Telslas insurers are finding out they are getting very expensive to repair.
      In many cases the Tesla must be written off!
      So much for an environmentally friendly car thats supposed to be cheaper to run.
      OPs car insurance alone now costs $43 per week. Hmmmm

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 17/10/2023 - 09:47
    +1

    How can we expect it to go down…?

    • shadow7412 on 17/10/2023 - 09:48
      +1

      I don't expect it to go down. I expect it to stay where it was, or at least rise more gradually.

      Perhaps I'd be less bummed out about it if it was part of the agreement.

    • bobbified on 17/10/2023 - 14:06
      +3

      The market value of the car tends to drop every year (even with "agreed value", the lower and upper ranges they offer is usually lower), so if nothing else has changed, I'd expect the premium to either remain the same (which would already be an increase in premium, given the lower insured value) or drop (in line with the insured value, if there's no increase). Instead, the insured value is dropping and the premium is going up - it's like a double-whammy. Bloody insurers….

  • plmko on 17/10/2023 - 10:01
    +3

    Honestly it doesn't sound like you've put in much effort to compare car insurance or are loyal to RACV.

    No one can say XYZ company is better because no one knows any details of you.

    • shadow7412 on 17/10/2023 - 10:44

      I have traditionally been fairly loyal - which is part of the reason I decided to put out feelers here to get some names to look into.

      But everyone so far is singing a very similar tune, which is kinda what I expected.

    • simplystu on 17/10/2023 - 18:13
      +1

      Also with car (same with house) insurance … It varies between suburbs.

      If lots of other ppl in same suburb have put in claims in last year, then will also increase your yearly cost.

  • Stalker on 17/10/2023 - 10:02
    +3

    Yep. The new norm sadly. Just got my renewal notice from Shannons - up 14.7% on last year. :(

    • Devastator0 on 17/10/2023 - 16:53
      +1

      Contact Shannons and ask for a better deal. I have 2 vehicles with them and had to do that. Got a price decrease on both.

      • Stalker on 18/10/2023 - 20:01

        Thanks - I sure will.

  • Seraphin7 on 17/10/2023 - 10:06

    How about you get quotes from other insurers? That will be a better comparison of the value you are receiving, rather than simply the price you are paying.

  • JimmyF on 17/10/2023 - 10:08
    +3

    Tesla Model S. It's not a cheap car, so insurance not being cheap

    Teslas are not cheap in general. Even the Model 3/Y are around $2k for most people now adays.

  • rumblytangara on 17/10/2023 - 10:10
    +4

    $200 a year for 4 years is exponential growth!

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/14390116/redir

    • shadow7412 on 17/10/2023 - 10:35
      +1

      I was really confused by that comment until I read the link :P

      Given the $400 jump at the end there, who knows if it's going to become exponential though…

      EDIT: Actually, I just calculated the difference between each year; 184, 202, 465. Technically, that is exponential :(

      • rumblytangara on 17/10/2023 - 13:09

        Heh, yeah, technically that is indeed exponential (though it doesn't follow a nice ^ factor)

        I applaud your geeky edit.

  • soan papdi on 17/10/2023 - 10:11
    +2

    For laughs I decided to run an RACV quote against the same vehicle - and they want $3163! That's without some of the extras I get too…

    With AAMI, if you change the address to that of your neighbour, same car and age etc, your new policy quote will be much lower as it's for a "new" customer. I really do believe the quote service looks up existing customers and jacks up the "new policy price" just so the renewal looks cheap. Wouldn't be surprised if RACV does the same.

    • shadow7412 on 17/10/2023 - 10:36
      +2

      Trust them to do something that dodgy… could indeed be an interesting experiment though.

  • Dodg07 on 17/10/2023 - 10:18
    +4

    Had my Ford Territory comprehensive insurured with RACV last year, just got my renewal last month and it has gone up 32%. I have changed to AAMI.

    • shadow7412 on 17/10/2023 - 10:46

      Oof… :/

      • Dodg07 on 17/10/2023 - 12:10

        Yeah I dont even bother calling for a better price these days, because they almost never do it without cutting excess or whatever. I just go online and get a better price elsewhere.

  • bax on 17/10/2023 - 11:06
    +1

    You are 100% correct. RACV continually increases the cost of your insurance, hoping that you will not notice.
    The increases are at least $2-300 a year increases in the last 3 years.
    As we have found, the only choices are go to another company, because loyalty does not exist with them, even though they say
    that you have a loyalty discount…
    Also if you increase your excess on a policy, it will drop your premium cost.
    These days you get nothing for $1000 cost at repair shop…
    Woolworths and AAMI seem better atm. At least with Woolies you can get 10% off your shop once a month…
    But you really have to check around everytime these policies become due, otherwise you will pay more unecessarily..

  • 7ekn00 on 17/10/2023 - 11:14
    -1

    With the truth coming out about spontaneous EV fires and huge minor accident repair costs, I am surprised it's not doubling year on year ;)

    • Switchblade88 on 17/10/2023 - 12:52

      And are you blatantly ignoring the spontaneous ICE fires and the huge minor accident repair costs irrespective of the engine type?

      • 7ekn00 on 17/10/2023 - 13:01
        +3

        Never seen a shipment of ICE vehicles catch fire spontaneously, got any proof at all?!?

        EV and solar batteries are spontaneously igniting causing multiple neighbor houses to burn down

        Or just an EV fanboi not realizing how hot and fast EV fires burn? Not to mention fire fighters can not put lithium ion fires out with standard equipment

    • ColtNoir on 18/10/2023 - 10:27
      +1

      ‘The truth coming out’ is one of key the opening lines for every underground crackpot I’ve ever heard.

      ‘trololololol’ is another tell

      • 7ekn00 on 18/10/2023 - 10:30

        And zero contribution to the actual topic at hand and just an attack of a poster are another two ;)

        • ColtNoir on 18/10/2023 - 10:39

          Much like your original comment.

          • 7ekn00 on 18/10/2023 - 10:46

            @ColtNoir: shrugs brother is an insurance assessor, was just trying to provide some insight :/

            1) At least my post wasn't a reply to anyone or an attack on any poster, unlike yours ;)
            2) My post was on topic and just trying to inform from what an insider felt, unlike yours ;)

            Please highlight where you have contributed to this topic without labeling others …

            • ColtNoir on 19/10/2023 - 08:50

              @7ekn00: Your assumption is wrong, my wife was a policy writer for a Lloyd’s subsidiary.

              Did I insult, yes, because you came off like someone who’s going to spruik some rubbish about the Illuminati.

  • fredz0r on 17/10/2023 - 13:23
    +5

    The major reason why policies have gone up is due to the average claim amount. Average claim amount was $4500 now it's $7000 per claim - this is due to part and labour costs going up. Where you live, age, how much you drive also factors in. At the end of the day if you are not happy shop around. It doesn't pay to be loyal.

    • vsecotecturbo on 17/10/2023 - 14:22
      +2

      This, there is shortage of qualified panel beaters too.

    • pharkurnell on 17/10/2023 - 16:55
      +1

      This bloke understands why

  • herbo on 17/10/2023 - 13:24

    Just got my RACV renewal for my Toyota LC Troopcarrier. It's up from $837 last year to $1,116 for this year. That's with RACV Gold and multi-policy discount. I'm planning on calling them to ask why the steep rise, not expecting much from that. I've done an AAMI quote for the same detail and get $1,091, so not much difference.

    • Gdsamp on 17/10/2023 - 18:35

      replacement cost for one of those must've gone up in recent years though?

      • herbo on 17/10/2023 - 21:32

        Yeah, probably, but mine is agreed value and the agreed value hasn't changed.

  • roonie on 17/10/2023 - 14:30
    +1

    Gold membership. Renewal up $350. Seemed a lot. Jumped online and it was $100 less than the renewal. Sniffed around and got it for $500 less (with gio) (which we went through for our model 3). I like racv but it’s seems a heavy issuer of the lazy tax

  • JIMB0 on 17/10/2023 - 15:34
    +1

    This may explain it.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeEX4CezGaU

  • pharkurnell on 17/10/2023 - 16:54
    +2

    Its not just car insurance, my home insurance went up 40%

  • farknos on 18/10/2023 - 08:57
    +1

    iam with rac in Perth, i let my existing insurance policy run out and start a new one on the same date and save $100+ for doing that alone every year, car or house insurance, i think they value new business more than keeping existing business.
    also worth noting tesla unlike other manufacturers limit the repairs to a small group of registered repairers and i believe the profit in repairing a tesla is far greater than other brands for the accident repairer, ultimately insurers will pass on higher repair costs of a specific brand to end insurer.

  • Goose93 on 18/10/2023 - 10:17

    Just reading through the comments here and I can’t see anyone suggesting that you call them each year when the renewal comes out.

    This is insurance 101.

    Every time you get your renewal, call the insurer and ask for a better deal and you’ll easily wipe off $100 minimum. I actually had my contents insurance renewal go from $890 down to $550 this year after I called them.
    They raise the prices because people are lazy and don’t want to shop around or call (even though it’s usually a 5min call).

    Always call!

  • nswnotill on 18/10/2023 - 10:40
    +1

    I do all my insurance (home and contents, motor vehicles) through a local broker. This company annually reviews my policies and if necessary changes the insurer for each policy. Such factors as premium excess, inclusions and exclusions, premium prices and general reputation of each company are taken into account. Based on these numbers the best value company for each category is recommended and I generally re-insure through the broker.

  • sprocketoctopus on 18/10/2023 - 11:01
    +1

    A mate in the trade told me that Tesla's are easily written off. Also parts are harder to get. Finally, a lot on Panel Beaters won't touch them, and the 'authorised' repairers are quite expensive.

    But as pointed out insurance is just crazy expensive generally nowadays..YMMV.

  • BinnyC on 25/10/2023 - 16:29

    My car insurance has gone up by 67% compared to last year with no claims at all:(
    Contacted them and they won't budge.

  • drprox on 02/11/2023 - 13:17

    Yep all my RACV insurances have gone up a load. I assume though, like me, you've realised they're still cheaper so it's not really them that is the problem….it's just broad inflation of insurance and everything.

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