Insurance Rip-offs - You won't believe this!

[The Mint Man]

Hey fellow ASF members,
Get this... I recently received my Home and Contents renewal from GIO and much to my surprise my insurance premium had gone up from $771.36 last year to $1786.64 this year..... This is almost a 132% increase in one year!!!
And just to confirm, I have had no claims in the last year and have no idea why the rise was so steep, in fact I thought it must have been a mistake.

So I did what any good haggler would do and started calling up other insurance companies to see what they could offer me.... I made sure that they gave me the exact same excess and cover that I was after in an attempt to make it as fair as possible however some companies offer more than others as standard.
Here is what the others offered:
AAMI - $722
Allianz - $871
ING - $768
NRMA - $772

So as you can see there is a massive difference between any of the above and the amount GIO was asking for.
Armed with this I rang up GIO and asked what was going on.... the bloke on the other end sympathized with me saying that it seemed excessive and that it might be a 'glitch', he proceeded to check with his supervisor for further assistance. When he came back he said that it was right and there was not much he could do besides play with the excess which would hardly put a dint in it. The best excuse they could offer me was that the policy is now called 'Classic Home and Contents Insurance' and that it includes 'Automatic flood cover'..... Ok fair enough...thats all good but there is still a $1000 plus difference compared to what the others are offering and what I paid last year... seems very excessive to me... especially when you consider that the other companies are offering everything I would need. Some with a few little perks as standard too.

Has anyone else had a case like this before?

Cheers

Mint Man:grinsking

 

[overit]

Re: Insurance Rip-offs. You won't belive this!

I had a boss once working in the construction game and when he didnt want a job he would put in an overpriced quote so that he wouldnt get the job... alternatively if he did get the job it would be at a nice premium.

Kinda sounds like what they are doing here. Are you in a flood prone area or at a more than usual risk for some reason that they dont want your business?

 

[billhill]

Did you try calling GIO as a potential new customer to see if their introductory rate is the same? Maybe they are scamming existing customers hoping most will just pay it and not shop around.

 

[marklar]

GIO lost my business in 1995 when they screwed me over on an insurance payout of a few hundred dollars. Over the past 14 years they would have made more than that back from me, but instead that money went to NRMA.

Stories like yours Minty are a real vindication for me in refusing to have anything to do with GIO anymore.

m.

 

[The Mint Man]

I had a boss once working in the construction game and when he didnt want a job he would put in an overpriced quote so that he wouldnt get the job... alternatively if he did get the job it would be at a nice premium.

Kinda sounds like what they are doing here. Are you in a flood prone area or at a more than usual risk for some reason that they dont want your business?

Yeh.. haha. Ive been in the construction game too and am well aware of this practice. I think you may be right here. We were involved in the June '07 floods, along with everyone else from Sydney to Newcastle, and did make a claim but I assume it was by no means large compared to other households. Plus this was 2 years ago.... not last year which is the premium I am comparing this years premium to.
The other thing you gave to consider is that this is not some small construction contractor this is a large company whom I have now publicly outed as a result of their outrageous increase. I wonder if the bad PR is worth it?
Anyway, if you are with GIO expect some sort of increase as customers like me desert them and they try to recoup the loss of business with an increase to your premium.

Did you try calling GIO as a potential new customer to see if their introductory rate is the same? Maybe they are scamming existing customers hoping most will just pay it and not shop around.

No. Plus they ask you for your home address etc... in order to get a quote. I wouldn't feel right using someone elses address. I'd rather just leave them without my business.

Also, all the other companies I rang asked quite in depth questions.... The point I am making is that these other companies (who gave me much cheaper quotes) all know where I live, 2 of them even asked how much I was paid out from my claim 2 years ago.

Cheers

 

[The Mint Man]

GIO lost my business in 1995 when they screwed me over on an insurance payout of a few hundred dollars. Over the past 14 years they would have made more than that back from me, but instead that money went to NRMA.

Stories like yours Minty are a real vindication for me in refusing to have anything to do with GIO anymore.

m.

Well they took over a year to pay me out from the floods..... all over a technicality really (it's a long story) but in the end they decided to pay without fussing on the actual price which surprised me considering they held me off for so long.
Then again, it depends who you speak to... some say GIO is good and some say NRMA is bad. I dunno :dunno:

 

[doctorj]

Salesmen/underwriters generally know if there's been an across the board rate increase in their company and would have probably told you rather than calling their supervisor if that was the case.

Given that, it sounds to me they've either changed the terms of your policy (such as including flood cover) and therefore had to include new rating factors, they've found they were previously undercharging you for the risk and have revised the rating factors or they've made a inadvertent error keying in the rating factors at the last update that somehow only includes a limited number of policies they’ve not included in the testing sample.

There is an ‘insurance cycle’, just like the economic cycle, where prices for risk go up and down over time, but that wouldn’t account for those fluctuations.

As an aside, if you are concerned about flood cover, check your policy. Many policies cover storm damage, but not damage from the resulting floods.

 

[awg]

A good Insurance Broker can be a handy person to know

they have the lowdown, especially if you have multiple Insurance needs.

if you really want to elbow GIO about the matter

email their business unit, and attach this thread

 

[waza1960]

In 1982 I brought a brand new HDT Commodore rang GIO because I was under 25 they wouldn't insure it and if i was over 25 the premuim was $2100 I then rang insurance brokers and got insurance for $450 needless to say I haven't talked to gio since,interesting that after all these years to hear a similar story

 

[The Mint Man]

Salesmen/underwriters generally know if there's been an across the board rate increase in their company and would have probably told you rather than calling their supervisor if that was the case.

Given that, it sounds to me they've either changed the terms of your policy (such as including flood cover) and therefore had to include new rating factors, they've found they were previously undercharging you for the risk and have revised the rating factors or they've made a inadvertent error keying in the rating factors at the last update that somehow only includes a limited number of policies they’ve not included in the testing sample.

There is an ‘insurance cycle’, just like the economic cycle, where prices for risk go up and down over time, but that wouldn’t account for those fluctuations.

As an aside, if you are concerned about flood cover, check your policy. Many policies cover storm damage, but not damage from the resulting floods.

Yep, fair comments but as I have said this massive increase comes 2 years after the floods. Also, as I understand it (I could be wrong though) their home and contents insurance comes with flood cover as standard now.... this has even been widely advertised in newspapers and on TV recently.

Cheers

 

[The Mint Man]

As a side note to my last message, most insurance companies cover 'flash flooding' (which is different to flooding) already which is what most people came under 2 years ago.

Ahhh its good to be back and ranting on ASF. haha.

 

[doctorj]

Yep, fair comments but as I have said this massive increase comes 2 years after the floods. Also, as I understand it (I could be wrong though) their home and contents insurance comes with flood cover as standard now.... this has even been widely advertised in newspapers and on TV recently.

Cheers

As said if they include flood cover 'as standard' they will need to introduce a rating factor for it to all policies (meaning you pay for the marginal risk increase). Including it 'as standard' just helps them avoid adverse selection (ie. only people in especially flood prone areas take the cover).

A significant recent flood in your area will blow out the modelling of the risk and significantly increase the extra you pay. This additional will decrease over time provided there are no more floods in your area.

Do the significantly cheaper insurance policies cover you for flood?

 

[The Mint Man]

As said if they include flood cover 'as standard' they will need to introduce a rating factor for it to all policies (meaning you pay for the marginal risk increase). Including it 'as standard' just helps them avoid adverse selection (ie. only people in especially flood prone areas take the cover).

A significant recent flood in your area will blow out the modelling of the risk and significantly increase the extra you pay. This additional will decrease over time provided there are no more floods in your area.

Do the significantly cheaper insurance policies cover you for flood?

No. but they do cover flash flood, one even covered water damage by way of the gutters not being able to handle excess water leading to damage in the roof..... To be honest I have not read the PDS of all policies yet. but IMHO I dont need the flood cover that GIO is offering as my area is mostly susceptible to flash flooding which as I mentioned is covered as standard by most companies.
Another note worth mentioning is the fact that my house is actually built up off the ground, about 1m from memory, so it would take a catastrophic flood to get to that height. The flash floods in June 2007 didn't get anywhere near entering the house.

 

[So_Cynical]

I would reckon there must be a big difference in the coverage offered by GIO
when u consider that both GIO and AAMI are owned and operated by Suncorp.

The 1000 odd dollars difference between the 2 just don't make sense, unless the
GIO policy gives u greater coverage which my be the case, something in the small
print....however insurance company's can be very very stupid.

A few years ago i used to be insured with AAMI and had been for many years with no
claims, i brought a good used ute at auction, very cheap due to panel damage down
one side...i went straight to AMMI to get my policy changed over to the new vehicle
only to be told that they couldn't cover me if i already had damage to the Ute.

I offered to exclude the whole side of the ute and sign anything they wanted me to
sign...they said no thanks, so i went to NRMA told them the story, and they were
happy to take my money and considered the damage a non issue.

7 years later i still haven't made a claim.

 

[HC Victim]

If you really want to get banged up the watoozy, try to insure a large capacity motorcycle, and add a Ducati sticker to the fuel tank! Aye carumba.

 

[nunthewiser]

If you really want to get banged up the watoozy, try to insure a large capacity motorcycle, and add a Ducati sticker to the fuel tank! Aye carumba.

yep same with the harleys ........ and thats if you can find someone to insure it!

uses shannons and get bent over every year

 

[pilots]

They are all bar###ds, years ago the wife and I was in business together, we took out a insurance so that if one of us was sick or was hurt we could claim wagers, the wife done her knee in so in to hospital she goes, I hire TWO people to replace her, after three months she is back at work, we try to claim for the time she was off, the insurance company comes out and said now the business is in both names, yes I said, so the time she was off work it was still running, yes, so the whole time she was off work she was still getting money from the business, yes, well I am very sorry we cant pay her, the only way we could ever claim was to shut the whole show down.

 

[HC Victim]

yep same with the harleys ........ and thats if you can find someone to insure it!

uses shannons and get bent over every year

..for sure , and we are BOTH such responsible owners too 'aye Nun?? lol

 

[Julia]

GIO lost my business in 1995 when they screwed me over on an insurance payout of a few hundred dollars. Over the past 14 years they would have made more than that back from me, but instead that money went to NRMA.

Stories like yours Minty are a real vindication for me in refusing to have anything to do with GIO anymore.

m.

Yep, they played hardball with me over a very small travel insurance claim.
Tried to put me off. I persisted and got paid out after a fight.
Would never again deal with them.

House and contents including flood cover was just under $600 in December.
I know where you are has quite an effect on the premium. No flood problems here, low crime rate/burglaries etc.

 

[nunthewiser]

GIO ripped me off a car based on a "wording " when reported stolen

i said some bugger stole my car

the car was insured in someone elses name

not paid

moved everything else to RAC(except motorbikes which went elswhere ) , never looked back .

no good paying insurance if they dont pay when needed