Insurance renewal time is the worst. I've maxed out everything now in terms of highest possible excess / lowest house valuation allowed etc to try to keep a lid on premiums. EQC charges increasing on the house from $100 in 2017 so nearly $500 now hasn't helped. But just focusing on the insurer's premium, it's way beyond reasonable inflation costs (over 35% on contents / over 20% on house). Anyone use a broker and recommend that process? I don't want this hassle again next year so want to get a review done early. Thanks for any comments.
AMI Just Increased Contents Insurance by over 35% - Should I Get an Insurance Broker?
Savey on 04/07/2023 - 13:20
Last edited 04/07/2023 - 13:35 by 1 other user
Last edited 04/07/2023 - 13:35 by 1 other user
Comments
Also with AA here
A broker is great - not so much for getting lower premiums (although they might), but most particularly when you have a claim, the insurance company will deal with the broker, who is into bat on your behalf.
For most people, its a bit of a non-issue as their lives are pretty simple. However, if you have a business, or anything perhaps 'non standard' I would always consider using a broker.
Definitely shop around (using a broker makes this easier) as more insurance companies are using risk based pricing and some are wanting to reduce their exposure to particular markets e.g. Wellington's earthquake risk. To do this they will put up their prices in areas they don't want as much insurance in and potentially reduce or keep level other areas where there is less risk. A broker is likely to have a good idea of market wide changes relative to the areas you're in. With all the weather events recently it's likely to only get worse 😕
Try initio for house and car. They have content but I don't have it. I was with Ami last year and moved to initio. They are very competitive.
Hi Ace,
What is the cover like with Initio compared to AA?
Last time I checked (maybe two or three years ago sometime in 'Covid-Lockdown-Era', so might have changed), AA had pretty good cover (both in breadth, as in what is covered, and depth, as in the amounts), but maybe Initio is similar, so better value?
Thanks,
Alan.
I was with them but they put their prices up quite a bit on renewal. I moved to Trademe insurance which seems to be a resller for Tower, and was cheaper and had better terms for me.
Thanks - great comments - much appreciated
Sadly after being with Ami for over 30 years we have moved both house and contents insurance from them to Trademe Insurance, we already have car insurance with them. We had 1 minor claim with them during that time, live in a low risk area, our contents premiums went up 34% and our house premiums 31%. Doing price comparisons Ami were at least $500 dearer than Trademe, AA, Initio, Tower for the same cover.
Initio is good too, we have landlord cover with them. Initio also have a policy comparison page on their website, makes it easier to compare.Thanks - yeah AMI prices are a bit out of control now I think. Tower underwrites TradeMe I see - time to get some other quotes.
Our home insurance jumped up 44% this annum, currently with AMI - unfortunately we were flooded out, and might be difficult to swap companies
How annoying - that's a huge jump.
Probably just a re-assessment of the true risks associated with your property?
Our rainwater was from the streets, AT neglected the infrastructure (drains were heavily blocked) plus they have upgraded the curbing height along our road as a result of the floods and culvert depth.
We are on a sloped section, not in a flood-prone area, only because we were below the street height.Bit of a toughie to be fair (or unfair!) - not at all your fault by the sounds of it, but you (and your insurer) are the ones that get hit by AT's potential negligence.
No idea if it would be possible for the insurer to make a claim against AT or not to recover some of the costs. If they could, you could imagine they might reconsider the risk profile and reduce the future premiums.
@Alan6984: Fair comment; however this would require the insurer to do some leg work rather than the easiest path to recover the losses :\ (synical view of the situation I know, but I fear it might be somewhat accurate…sadly)
@AleBeerenhoff: Perhaps, but I think you'll find that most insurers have a process for recovering losses from the third party at fault - it is a direct cash inflow to them, so you would entirely expect that to be the case.
They will likely make a commercial decision on the expected costs to recover, versus the amount they might expect to recover, and prioritise accordingly, which means sometimes they might not seek recovery of small amounts and / or difficult to recover amounts. I have no real idea, but getting a payment out of AT for their potential negligence might fall into the latter category.
The premiums going forward will have no impact on any prior losses (whether eventually recoverable or not).
I've always found it to be worth shopping around each year or so regardless.
I was a broker over the last year, often we won't get you the cheapest policies, the policies we can get do tend to have higher policy limits though
Totally agree - in fact, I think it would be pretty unreasonable to expect my broker to go out and get quotes from every single provider in the market.
Doesn't stop 'entitled' people acting like you should do loads of work for them for free though :-(
Haha that's right Alan, that's why I spoke in the past tense. Was a broker for 12 months, turns out the past 12 months was just about the toughest in the industry! Much happier back working for an insurer now
Trouble is that the majority of people are actually pretty much clueless, and also think that the world owes them something - a matter on which the world probably disagrees, so they get frustrated at their own stupidity, but don't want to admit it, and then get nasty about it.
Thanks - if the price is similar but the policy limits are higher that's a win - appreciate the info - cheers
Yeah if you go the broker route, make em work for it! They should be able to tell you what's better about their policies vs the ones you can get yourself
Always do your research though. Broker will always be not the best. Many have tie up with certain companies to get more kick backs then others. So they will push for those companies. Have experienced it and the policy wasn't great either. Not bad, but probably not the best for me.
Not saying anything against them. Just be mindful and check others as well.
for reference mine just rolled over, my car went down 3.5%, much to my surprise!
house and contents went up 15%.
I'm with AA, worth having a shop around to see what others would offer.