Just got a insurance renewal from budget direct.
Premiums have increased from $700 to $1050. Value insured for has gone from 520k to 550k and did not make a claim last year (or ever actually) but it amounts to a 50% increase.
Had a bit of a look elsewhere and yeah really can't find anything better so sounds like it's just more expensive across the board.
I mean insurance costs have definitely faster than CPI in recent years but can anyone explain why it's increased so much this year?
Sure but more likely natural disaster losses from floods etc. OP might have even been rezoned to be included in a flood zone. BUT, also definitely price gouging by the insurance industry.
Idk why he’s getting downvoted it’s true… my sisters street got broken into 5 times within the last two months in an affluent Melbourne suburb. The ones that get caught are released next day and it’s always the same characters from a certain background as seen on the cameras. Of course home insurance has to go up with all these claims just on one street.
my sisters street got broken into 5 times
Seems like solid empirical evidence.
@mustang87401: Ah yes, the premier word on crime in Australia - the Herald Sun.
If you actually look at the stats the rise in youth crime is almost completely contained with theft from supermarkets or other stores.
"Massive increase" = a few perfect over 5 years: https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/crime-statistics/late…
Don't buy into the media's spin mate, they want to sell you an idea so you keep watching.
@Nereosis: OK BUDDY! no increase in crime in Melbourne! It's all imagination! The statistics used in the Herald Sun are all government/police statistics. You can pick and choose your numbers but teen criminals breaking into homes has increased 10 times since Labor came to power. HOMES not supermarkets or stores. This reflects perfectly with the stories you hear all the time if you live in Melbourne over the last 10 years home break ins have increased dramatically. I know dozens of people who have had that happen to them. 20 years ago this was unheard of.
@Nereosis: Look in the article it's all there. The link you posted is general crime statistics. Overall crime might be at the same level or slowly going up but this is specifically about house break ins.
2022–2023
The number of break-ins and burglaries in Victoria increased by 16% from 2022 to 2023, from 21,752 to 25,260.
https://www.racv.com.au/royalauto/property/insurance/what-bu….
2024
The number of home burglaries in Victoria increased to 25,915, which is 2,653 more than the previous year.
Aggravated residential burglaries increased by 18.4% over the 12-month reporting period.
https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/spotlight-residential…
How is the Age for a leftie troll like you?
2023
Aggravated home burglaries by children almost double in a year, crime stats show
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/aggravated-home-…
@mustang87401: "Leftie troll" good one.
Context is king my dude.
An increase from any years that Covid was around is a useless stat. Of course crime went down when the entire country was forced inside and of course it's now gone back up. You need to look at the increase from 2019 to 2024 and you'll find is a few percentage points.
teen criminals breaking into homes has increased 10 times since Labor came to power.
Where does it say this in the data?
As far as I can tell, in Victoria, the rate of crime in general by all ages is about the same as it was in 2015. The rate of burglary/B&E is also about the same across all ages.
Youth crime is slightly elevated from 4971 per 100,000 in 2015 to 5090 per 100,000 in 2024 (~2.4%). This just doesn't meet the requisite for "CRIME WAVE" or "YOUTH CRIME EPIDEMIC" as sensationalist newspapers or vested-interested-insurers would want you to believe.
@johnno07: I find it really funny that apparently actually reading stats and not buying what the media says verbatim to mean that I am a "leftie troll" - I wonder if that says anything about the mindset of these kinds of people…
The amount taken would be trivial to insurance companies. The real problem is natural disasters like flooding, bushfires, etc. Where whole swathes of properties are basically destroyed. Also intense storms where a lot of people are affected by inundation, trees falling down, damage from high winds, etc.
Shh… you might be called racist.
Who cares everyone in Melbourne knows it’s African gangs committing the break ins. Dutton was always right about it. Even lefties are waking up to it when they see the faces on their 800 dollars ring bell in 4k
@mustang87401: Dutton said Melbournians were too scared to go out to restaurants. He is a complete tool. Every new group of immigrants have an issues with gangs. This will settle down on the long run. Also these gangs don’t represent the vast majority of these immigrants. Dutton is just fanning the flames of division.
@try2bhelpful: Oh really when did Italians and Greeks break into shops/houses on a daily basis in affluent suburbs with baseball bats and knifes? When did the Lebanese stop being criminal in western Sydney? At the time certain Melbournians were scared to go out in certain suburbs were there is a high concentration of African youth committing crimes in broad daylight. I know because I have family in exact those suburbs. Dutton was spot on and he is continuing to say exactly what’s right not politically correct. The crime has not settled since then it’s only increased.
@mustang87401: Go back and have a look at the comments about Italian and Greek gangs in the 60s and 70s. They might not have been breaking into people's houses but they were considered as running the organised crime gangs back then. Pauline Hanson was whining about Vietnamese gangs and their violence about ten years ago. That seems to have pretty much settled down since then. The issue with the African "gangs" will settle down as well as they integrate into the community. Politically correct is a bogus term that right wingers use to excuse their bigotry. As a said he is just inflaming the situation for political gain, not to actually provide any sort of solution to the issues. This issue does not apply to the vast majority of African migrants. Dutton is never spot on.
Loyalty counts for nothing these days with mobs like this and telcos. Just shop around.
Yeah I did. No one is any cheaper.
That's why I'm asking why it has suddenly gone up so much across the board
budget direct.
For me, budget direct is about 30% more expensive than many of the others I compare to.
Did you try Qantas Insurance? They have the same underwriter. I just jumped from Budget and i got 20% cheaper plus 40K in Qantas points. The first year is always great as they give you a discount on premiums. Probably need to jump every year now to just stay on similar premiums.
Extreme weather events caused by human impacted climate change. Everyone else is covering for those is fire, flood, and storm risk areas.
I think it's across the board mate. Ours jumped 15% (which, yes, is better than 50% but still unwelcome).
That is a small increase for the insurers. It will do the same next year if you don't vote with your feet and move.
but can anyone explain why it's increased so much this year?
CEO's KPIs.
Yeah? Did they only start getting KPIs this year?
You'll need to ask them.
I guess with increased building costs 🤷 maybe increased regulations they need to comply with…
I know insurance companies typically raise premiums extra the year after really bad weather events too (from working there briefly).
My contents insurance with RACQ went up from $327 to $823, cancelled them right away lol, for $54k contents in strata unit block.
My contents is only $178 (incl GST/stamp duty) for $155k of cover….defined events though and no outside coverage…if I'm stupid enough to break things myself - I deserve to have to pay for it.
8-9 years ago I built a house and it cost me $350k, today they claim it is well over double that thanks to a completely borked supply chain, greedy tradies (just watch site inspections… do you best, silicone the rest…bigger blob, better job) - the disparity in job value these days (saw someone quote US$2000 to spend 10 hours mowing a very large lawn…what??!?!?!) - we're on the verge of wholesale self-insurance and people keen to simply rebuild themselves and live in a tent (if they're lucky enough to currently own a home).
Natural disaster damage is increasing and will probably continue to do so. Housing prices are increasing and the cost of repairs is also increasing. I agree the premiums increase appear excessive but I’m not really that surprised they are going up.
The break ins from “youths” will be small potatoes because they steal relatively small value items. However, car insurance would be a different kettle of fish for that issue.
Like refusing to maintain a house, if you neglect the environmental issues they are more costly in the long run.
Did they lower the prices after you did that?
Still in review…
Great, OP, I am in the exact same boat as you, 50% increase for zero reason, no claim at all, ever…I don't know AFCA can look into this so great to make the move! Every home owner should do this if the increase is this crazy!
This. Wow, OP can you edit your post to i clude this info so more people do so??
That's cheap. I'm playing $1700 for $700k of cover. It wasn't any cheaper elsewhere.
thats cheap, im paying $2700 for $550k of cover. we do get cyclones but its been 50 years since Tracy.
Just look at the financial results of listed insurers. Profits are up substantially.
Government is having a fight with supermarkets whilst every other business rips us off
Typical shareholder BS.
Infinite growth is real!!
I am sure that the cost of rebuilding or repairing houses has gone up a lot in line with the increased cost of housing materials as well as the tradies to do the work.
That would be one of the factors leading to higher premiums.
Mines close to $2k for the year so think yourself lucky.
Had the same issue so decided to shop around and found similar cover 30% cheaper. No doubt the renewal next year will be higher. I have come to the conclusion that this is going to be an annual/6mth exercise just like I am doing with
electricity,nbn etc.
Where are you located? I know a lot of people in QLD have been hit with massive increases due to the state government's reassessment of flood zones and some people now have to pay a lot more if their property has been assessed to be in said zone.
I'm also with Budget Direct and they quoted a 30% renewal for later this month.
I checked on comparethemarket.com.au and the cheapest price was from Budget Direct, coming in a little under my last renewal. One of the site reps then called me and clarified a few things to reduce it further but I added some more coverage. So I've got more coverage at roughly the same price now for the next renewal.
Make sure you get a quote on line with exactly the same variables as your current quote - mine was cheaper.
Then went to NRMA and it was cheaper. So shop around. Make sure you get quotes every year from differnet companies.
Got to fund those multi million dollar salaries and bonuses somehow….
Definitely an error on their end.
That’s the smallest % increase iv heard
I know why is Op complaining lol
I’ve got $2200 up from $1800 for 930K cover
If you read Budget Direct blurb (not sure if it's in the pds or just general information out there), they do say that initially your premiums are low and they will rise each year (more than CPI), so the longer you are with them, the more you will pay. So loyalty means you pay much more.
I hate how companies bring out good prices or rates for new customers but do not pass those deals onto existing customers. Budget Direct does this and they recoup what they lost in the initial years in the subsequent years because most won't bother to shop around.
I got annoyed with the cost of renewals and shopped around the last few years. I read somewhere in that process that you should get at least at 3 quotes from companies with different underwriters for the insurance. I found this difficult to tell as they aren't open about who their underwriters are and you get very little details of the policy when you get online quotes.
Having said all that, insurance has become a big rip off. I know our disasters have been costing them a fortune. Many of these companies are linked to overseas, so we aren't just paying for our own disasters either.
.
I found this difficult to tell as they aren't open about who their underwriters are
It's in the FGS for practically every insurer. Not the PDS.
It depends on the risk. I had one go up over 20%, but another go down this year.
It's the floods. The reinsurance pool in Australia has been almost wiped out and the government is compulsorily forcing insurers to contribute to the pool to bring it back up. So there is a buffer there. It's as simple as that. Source: a friend is a senior exec in the insurance industry.
By the way, as ourrageous as this sounds, the government has forbidden insurers from discussing this. You can ring them up and ask them, and they'll probably will deny.
Mystery as to why we have to pay an insurance pool for people who chose to live in a cyclone, flood risk, fire risk area etc.
Should be localised collection.. ie. Premiums in those areas should be eye watering for the next 10 years.
name one place in Australia thats free of disasters. man made or natural. Everyone needs insurance. its been 50 years since Tracy took out Darwin but in the mean time a random storm in Sydney/Melbourne will do significant damage.every year but you dont need to build your houses stronger like we do up here.
You mean free of natural disasters? If so 95% of Australia.
Basically anywhere inland.
Weather fronts basically form on and around the coastal transitions. Basically desert, so nothing to burn. Rains 4 times….a year.
Basically the place no one wants to live…
@tunzafun001: I cant discuss this further with someone who honeslty appears to have no idea what happens across this large nation to make claims so ignorant.
Im not sure what areas of inland Australia you have visited but its almost laughable that you claim they are basically desert.
for some info here is a disaster map of Australia. the issues are hardly localised to inland Australia. If anything the coastal areas are dragging the rest of the nation down.
https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/disasters/
also i didnt neg you but clearly someone else disagress with you as well.
@DarwinBoy: In terms of insurance claims, your map data shows it perfectly.
Draw a circle around the SA, NSW, QLD border area ..and even follow that area all the way to WA.
The ONLY events are droughts and heat waves. Neither impact an insurance claim.
As for source…lived there for 20 years! That's pretty solid data.
So again, why would someone living in these areas with zero events, need to top up the greater Sydney area with 142 events?
@tunzafun001: droughts cause fires. fires cause claims. 2019 fires in NSW burnt 7% of the state after the worst recorded drought in history. it wasnt just the hills burning around Sydney.
Look at floods in the border region of NSW and QLD. Multiple floods over recent years. Lismore back to back.
There is no area that wont be impacted by some sort of environmental disaster. fire or flood will come.. .
Newcastle even had an earthquke 35 years ago.
@DarwinBoy: Saltbush and ironstone don't burn mate.
Could save Elon Billions in trying to habitate Mars. …just come here.
It's the floods. The reinsurance pool in Australia has been almost wiped out and the government is compulsorily forcing insurers to contribute to the pool to bring it back up. So there is a buffer there. It's as simple as that. Source: a friend is a senior exec in the insurance industry. By the way, as ourrageous as this sounds, the government has forbidden insurers from discussing this. You can ring them up and ask them, and they'll probably will deny.
Conspiracy theory crap and factually incorrect.
Reinsurance costs have increased around the world with increased natural disasters/catastrophes and wilder weather. The Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation (ARPC) Cyclone Reinsurance Pool is intended to lower the cost of cyclone reinsurance.
Same thing happened with me with budget direct. Did a quote for the neighbor address, inputting the exact same details as my quote. Price was 40% cheaper. Looks like they are taxing renewals compared to new business which is not allowed. Lodged an AFCA complaint, lets see what comes out of it
World wide disasters are possibly part of it.
Did the same to me…its typical insurance company tactics…go elsewhere!
its nothing to do with cpi or war ect. Its due to the higher risks and higher payouts/settlements of claims. Higher cases of fraud, higher number of claims ect..
Of course shop around but also consider higher excess given you've never had a claim. I've got 2k for contents and I think 5k for building - I wouldn't want to deal with an insurance company for small claims anyway and the higher excess can provide significant savings over the standard excess.
This is what I do as well, shop around and have the max excess.
If you are worried about a particular item you can have it listed separately or as portable contents which has a different excess to the standard contents.
Flooding and storm damage had been belting the insurance companies, premiums are going up across the board. Think yourself lucky, my premium is more than double yours
I was with Coles, and got a letter saying that their underwriter changed, and that they would not retain me. Re-quoted on coles, and my insurance came up twice what I was paying.
Compare the market gave me a similiar result at 100% increase. But I looked at AAMI and they were the only one that gave me a similiar quote to what I was on… So shop around…
20 years with nib… asked them for a better deal as ive only ever made 2 extras claims worth around $400…. and they couldn't care less, told me price is the price. I said cancel the (profanity) policy.
Absolutely. They only get commissions on new sales not renewals.
Similar situation here.
29% premium increase
5-6% sum insured increase.
I had building cover for 9 years, but after an insurance claim was rejected, I decided to drop the policy completely. Since 2019, I've been taking the risk on my own.
What kind of house you got?
why was it rejected?
As others have noted, insurers got hit hard by the various natural disasters, add in the current pricing of tradies and builders and realistically they had little choice. Everyones premiums are soaring.
a trick i do is cancel the insurance and sign up as a new customer, most likely it will be lower than the renewal notice
It's still going up. Insurers are suffering a lot of losses in Australia.
Try Hollard insurance through CBA.
When I did an insurance quote for my car, Budget Direct wanted $1450. Hollard was $710. Those fancy TV commercials cost a lot.
My Home and Contents has been with Shannons for years and I probably wouldn't have even looked if this years renewal was <10% increase… but it was +40% vs CBA/Hollard with the newly increased values being half the rate. I'm still doing a little research because I don't know what they are like to deal with (should I ever need to), but damn that's a saving.
Car insurance for my car is still cheaper with Shannons and I'm confident they are easy to deal with and cover all the little mods, all listed, no issues… CBA/Hollard were competitive to other insurers, but still more expensive than Shannons so it looks like I will have only one policy left with them at this rate.
Not sure how accurate, but I balked at Hollard when I read their online reviews, almost universally bad, even for an insurer.
Comminsure home insurance and car insurance assessors,claims and payouts used to be stellar(in our experience)
Hollards wouldn't have preyed on them if there wasn't a way to grow the profits.
The real pain is probably at the claim end.
CBA insurance customers thrown under a SAfrican bus? Time will tell
EDIT:
Looking like it>
https://www.productreview.com.au/listings/hollard-home-and-c…
that doesn't gel with my past experience with comminsure, however that was over 10 years ago. Was the biggest insurance nightmare I ever had and it was for a relatively simple claim, in the end I got an apology and full payout when I escalated it as they saw how badly I had been treated for what should have been an open and shut claim.
@gromit: Never had any dramas pre Hollard , luck?
. After scrolling down the review page I stopped looking for a good review.
I think they saw an opportunity to cash in via climate change impacts.
@Protractor: yup, all for saving money, but some savings are false economies. I suspect this is one of them.
@Protractor: Problem is people tend to only do the ratings when they are unhappy, did a quick check
Suncorp 79% disapproval
AAMI 85% disapproval
NRMA 85% disapproval
Shannons 79% disapproval
Stand out was budget direct at 27%
@tomfool: Disagree. Read the actual stories,not just the numbers, and Hollard has the reins for a shorter time than many. Also plenty of those complaints wanted a zero star rating. But hey defend away.I'm sure you have your reasons.
@Protractor: Not defending anyone I dont insure through them and never have. Just specualtaing that people tend to only rate when something does not go their way with their claim.
@tomfool: that's true, however the universally bad ratings for hollard, which make those NRMA and AAMI ratings look spectacular by comparison, suggest it is more than just the usual unhappy claims.
Ours jumped significantly and I even found a few insurers who wouldn't cover it. Seems like a few of them thought we were in a flood zone, which we aren't but couldn't seem to find a way around it. Further down our street could be, but we're a fair bit uphill.
I’m with Allianz and our house LL insurance went up 27%.
Poo but what can you do.
I got about +35% increase on my renewal and shopped around and found it cheaper. Every 12 months the same process…
Maybe alot home break in from those youth criminals