Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

Inflation

@Value Collector Yep, time to to shop around. I have been with the same company for 20 years (plus a big Policy for business). Might increase the excess also.

@Smurf1976 It's worth a few bucks and definitely not your average house in the burbs . I had a quantity surveyor check a few years ago just to make sure I had the Insurance right. Being under insured is a big risk (co-insurance clause).

I have seen some big Insurance increases in the past but 40% is ridiculous. Hopefully there will some better deals elsewhere. But I have also been caught up where they just want to reduce the risk in their book for particularly types of insurance - maybe the luxury house market is an area they have been stung. Who knows. The rep is not being forth coming with info.

Time to buy QBE?
Check out budget direct.

Also, I wouldn’t let the co-insurance clause scare you from putting a lower replacement value down, worst case scenario is you just keep a bit of the risk on your book and save some annual premium.

in general it’s a smart move to self insure as much as you can, but it’s understandable you don’t want to be on the hook for full replacement value, but accepting a lower replacement value and some co insurance is a way to self insure a percentage.

At the end of the day the home is depreciating anyway, so if you had to put in a few $1,000 as part of a co insurance, but get a new house it’s just like you did a cheap renovation, which you would have had too do eventually anyway.
 
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Couple of things the insurance companies are doing to get out of paying out claims lately:

If something doesn't meet Australian standard then they won't pay out.
There's a local case of solar panels blowing off the roof and taking the roof sheets with it. Now because the roof pitch was a tad under 5degrees and they used corro sheets they wouldn't pay out. Despite that having no impact as to why the damage occurred.

If you haven't had maintenance regularly done on your roof they won't pay for damages.

I've had to fight a lot of insurance companies on their bs for people and have won simply because the guys they get don't have the technical knowledge to argue against me. Some of the reasons they use is ridiculous.
 
Couple of things the insurance companies are doing to get out of paying out claims lately:

If something doesn't meet Australian standard then they won't pay out.
There's a local case of solar panels blowing off the roof and taking the roof sheets with it. Now because the roof pitch was a tad under 5degrees and they used corro sheets they wouldn't pay out. Despite that having no impact as to why the damage occurred.

If you haven't had maintenance regularly done on your roof they won't pay for damages.

I've had to fight a lot of insurance companies on their bs for people and have won simply because the guys they get don't have the technical knowledge to argue against me. Some of the reasons they use is ridiculous.
that is why i call insurance gambling

you are betting they will pay up when you lodge a claim

in saying that , i hold TWR , SUN , QBE , and today bought into IAG ( but won't touch MPL for quite a while , yet )

the best stories are when you try to claim on damage caused by the insurers sub-standard repairs from a previous claim
 
the best stories are when you try to claim on damage caused by the insurers sub-standard repairs from a previous claim
I had people call me about a job that was done by insurance hired tradies.
Went there and found out they had basically destroyed the roof flashings with silicone and made it leak worse. Realistically you had to tear the whole roof off and do it again.

I rang the insurance company who then told me that it's now on the tradies insurance company to fix it.
 
Couple of things the insurance companies are doing to get out of paying out claims lately:

If something doesn't meet Australian standard then they won't pay out.
There's a local case of solar panels blowing off the roof and taking the roof sheets with it. Now because the roof pitch was a tad under 5degrees and they used corro sheets they wouldn't pay out. Despite that having no impact as to why the damage occurred.

If you haven't had maintenance regularly done on your roof they won't pay for damages.

I've had to fight a lot of insurance companies on their bs for people and have won simply because the guys they get don't have the technical knowledge to argue against me. Some of the reasons they use is ridiculous.
With insurance, often the biggest trouble is the consumer not understanding what they are actually covered for, and making claims that are not covered.

We saw this stuff in the last floods, most insurance policies don’t automatically cover flood, you have to add it if you want it.

You also see it in travel insurance when travellers are injured on scooters or while drinking etc. it’s all laid out in your terms and conditions.
 
With insurance, often the biggest trouble is the consumer not understanding what they are actually covered for, and making claims that are not covered.

We saw this stuff in the last floods, most insurance policies don’t automatically cover flood, you have to add it if you want it.

You also see it in travel insurance when travellers are injured on scooters or while drinking etc. it’s all laid out in your terms and conditions.
I've done it over 30 years now and I've seen insurance companies cover less and less. Not only that but they will actively try and get out of paying for legitimate claims by claiming its something else. I've fought and won every case for people that I thought was a legitimate claim despite the insurance companies thinking otherwise.

Majority of the time the insurance companies will just say it's something they don't cover.
 
I've done it over 30 years now and I've seen insurance companies cover less and less. Not only that but they will actively try and get out of paying for legitimate claims by claiming its something else. I've fought and won every case for people that I thought was a legitimate claim despite the insurance companies thinking otherwise.

Majority of the time the insurance companies will just say it's something they don't cover.
@moXJO A few years ago when I was very badly injured had to fight tooth and nail to get what I was insured for. Finally the threat of Court action instigated by me made them see the error of their ways.
Also I did a bit of contract work for lady in my area who did a stint of 8 weeks for an insurance company in their claims department.
The supervisor made her imprint on her brian the word NO. It was to be repeated ad nasium in the hope that the claimants would just give up.
In the end she was the one who gave up.
 
I think I stirred up a hornets nest. But yes, insurance companies are assholes. I had to sell my business of 40 years and one of the main issues (although I had a few others) revolved around unable to get insurance for a substantial risk. We had been insured for 30 years and did a worlwide search for cover to no avail-. Buyer was willing to take on the risk, I wasn't.
 
...yes, insurance companies are assholes.
I tender the above as a more succinct evaluation.

Mrs is a riding coach in the particular field of dressage, nothing spectacularly dangerous, no going over jumps, no galloping, nothing to exciting at all.

Get the insurance premiums for her to conduct that particular business renders it uneconomic in relation to the achievable fees. Vis a vis, the fees are actually quite lucrative but the insurance premiums outrageous.

@#$& that.

Keeping her as a lady a leisure is far more appealing ( to her anyway haha).
 
... and sadly you're training them up for the next claimant
You would think that but the seem to hire idiot building consultants that can't counter my reports. A lot of the time I'm countering their dribble. Insurance companies pay crap rates for reports. They end up with what they pay for. Probably why I haven't had a problem yet.


They don't like paying for anything honestly
 
I think I stirred up a hornets nest

No you haven't. For many it is getting difficult to obtain insurance. I understand people who live in the Ipswich areas have been quoted $30k for house insurance. Anybody want to have a guess at the next round of insurance offers in parts of FNQ, Sunshine Cost, Victoria, etc.

Insurance companies wouldn't make an offer the house owner could refuse by any chance? Surely not. :)

You may wish to read @basilio's post touching on such matters. It's a bit long but a good read nevertheless.

Very challenging analysis. Couple of points stood out. The huge rise in severe storm damage losses is a red flag and ceratinly highlights this particular event as a major factor in damage and Insurance payouts

1) Climate change is seen as a major risk factor for the reinsurance and insurance industry, in particular with the increased frequency and severity of weather-related events in recent years. S&P analysis found reinsurers’ estimates of their exposure to natural catastrophe risk could be underestimated by as much as 33 to 50 percent. More frequent and extreme weather events will have a direct impact on the (re)insurance industry, while a failure to properly account for the impact of climate change in modelling and pricing could lead to significant unexpected volatility in earnings and capital, resulting in pricing corrections. Climate change is considered a key factor in 19 of the top 21 reinsurers rated by S&P. In 2021, AM Best issued a report stating around 13 percent of downgrades were related to climate change.

2) The first six months of 2022 were marked by large-scale disasters on nearly every continent that led to above-average losses for the insurance industry

The cumulative charts in Exhibit 3 below show secondary perils continuing to dominate the costliest 1H economic and insured loss perils during the past ten years. Primary perils, including earthquakes and tropical cyclones, have been moderately lighter through the peak of tropical cyclone season, typically in Q3. There has been a consistent trend in accelerating severe convective storm losses that are tied to continued exposure growth and more impactful peril behaviour. Also, despite the high cumulative economic impact of flooding, insured losses remained significantly lower as insurance coverage (mostly in Asia) stays low.

Exhibit 3: Cumulative Economic & Insured Losses by Peril up to 1H 2022 ($ billion)

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