Highway Robbery!

[kiwiland 3]

Today received my car insurance renewal account from AA Insurance. Usually this type of mail is accompanied by a bleating letter saying costs have risen dramatically and reluctantly they have to raise premiums. Not this mob! Premium is up by 8.7% while agreed value goes down by 6%. Has nobody told them we are in a recession and we all have to take a cut in income. This sort opf thing is as bad as Local Bodies striking rates on grossly out of date property valuations but thats another story

[zenetti 0]

Take your business elsewhere!

I thought "agreed value" meant that both parties agreed on the value of the car. If they drop the "agreed value" without your knowing, it doesn't really make it "agreed value" at all.

We had the same thing with the wife's RAV4 from the same insurere. We are now with State, have saved over $200 a year and the agreed value is higher!

Edited December 18, 2008 by zenetti

[pjay 8]

Change insurance companies if you dont like it

Edit - State are real cheap. Saved me a lot also where other companies wouldnt even touch me

Edited December 18, 2008 by Pjay

[kiwi535 538]

Change insurance companies if you dont like it

Edit - State are real cheap. Saved me a lot also where other companies wouldnt even touch me

and so are their repairs....its why i left them to go to vero...

[greenday-rulz21 6]

and so are their repairs....its why i left them to go to vero...

Vero are good. Insured me with a '99 323 for under 1k. I was amazed.

[martyyn 2]

and so are their repairs....its why i left them to go to vero...

I agree. We had our Scooby with them and when it got hit the repairs were terrible.

[M325is 0]

You can choose who repairs your car, make sure you are present before work is done aswell to show an interest in your car, then hopefully they will show interest aswell, if you are not happy with a repair take it back. One of our forum sponsors fixed my car which was covered by state and he did a superb job.

[Braeden320 0]

I agree. We had our Scooby with them and when it got hit the repairs were terrible.

Surely thats a reflection of the repairer not the insurance company?

I've found state to be excellent, Always let me choose where to get the car fixed etc.

[Driftit 2078]

State/NAC are not that cheap. They are currently spending $11K to repair a friends S14 Silvia worth about $15K. And of course he got to choose where it went.

Although make sure you state every little detail about your car to state. I rang them to let them know I had purchased new mags and they canceled my insurance on the spot. Breach of contract. Moved all out cars to AMI because of this.

[martyyn 2]

Well State werent interested in letting us pick who we took the car too and insisted on it going to a specific place.

Of course I took the car back when I wasnt happy with the work done but they refused to deal with us saying it all had to come through State. State on the other hand blamed the body shop and said we should take it up with them. In the end we got fed up, sold the car and took our business elsewhere.

[OLLIE 26]

I've always been with AMI and they are great. I have also heard good things about state.

AA, AMP are terrible, I have heard nothing but bad things.

[elmarco 56]

I have heard (from panelbeaters) that State are very cheap to deal with - as in they don't use new panels where possible (second hand or repaired) and generally don't pay as well as some of the others. This obviously impacts the quality of the finished job and customer satisfaction. Not so much of an issue if you are driving a beaten up Ford Escort, but not who I would insure my Ferrari with.

Remember - you ALWAYS get what you pay for (including insurance). There are no free lunches. If you can live with a cheaper job or product, then great. But if you expect a premium service or product, you will end up paying for it one way or another.

State did one cheap job on my old Golf and I changed to AMI (who have done a good job the only time I have claimed).

[huff3r 347]

I had a friend who got a real bad deal with AMI, the car was a mess, it took forever for them to sort it out, and they insisted on getting it repaired. The vehicle was valued at around 6K, and the panel beater told them there would be way more than that in hidden damaged, but the insurance assessor said no, no it'll be fine. So about a month later they finally got their car back and promptly changed insurance agents.

At the moment i'm with NAC, lol turns out no-one wants to insure an 18 year old with a race-car

[aliluya 0]

I'm with Vero and find them to be really really good...

Insurance for under 25 was under $1k for the 2001 e39 539i and the 2008 toyota highlander was $1100.

And as of september this year it just got a little cheaper, i turned 25 hehe

Vero allows me to take it anywhere i want for repair, no questions asked!

[RvT 9]

I choose AMI way back as I got to know someone high up in the organisation. What he told me is that AMI is owned by the policy holders so they are not supposed to make any profit. If they do they drop the premiums and if they run at a loss, they increase the premiums. Most other insurance companies have to make a profit of 10% for the shareholders. I like non-profit organistions

FYI The M5 costs $671.57 per year and the wife's Allroad is $456.69

[my_e36 43]

Recently bought a e46 Compact for my wife. AMI quote is some $300 cheaper than AA (even with AA member discount and the fact that I already have my house & contents with). I have always heard good things about AMI and that since they were own by policy holders and suppose to have 0 profit.

AA was pretty good, when I crashed my e36 coupe couple of years ago. I was allowed to send the car to my choice of panel beater. They paid out within 10 days after the panelbeater written my car off due to the damage. Phone call are always answered pretty quickly too, which is a good thing.

[323e30 0]

nac arnt cheap but they are so sweet when it comes to paying out for damages etc

[rxsumo 33]

Hey, you do know that the discussion thus far is about three insurance companies .

IAG = State Insurance = NZI = NAC

Vero = AA = Classic Cover

AMI

In my experience with cars and claims, (and apart from State Insurance), its the assessor that determines what sort of repair you are going to get and how much he (or she), will allow the panel beater to spend. If your panelbeater is not working at capped hourly rate, then the assessor may only allow the money that they could get the job done at a capped rate.

This is compounded in the Wellington area from, what I understand, that most of the insurance companies either share or use a contacted company to do their assessments.

The only way to avoid the reducing agreed value, is to have the car actually valued, and provide the insurance company with a written valuation. But at $50-$100 per time, that can be expensive if you have a few cars.

State have always used 2nd panels, and own (or at least the used to) NZ Cars Parts, specifically to supply the parts for the Insurance work. There used to be "horror stories" of latest release cars, waiting for over 6 months in panel shops, for another car to be written off so that they didnt have to pay for new panels.

AMI arent much better, when I frontalled our old MX5, they were going to supply a Taiwanese copy bonnet rather than a geniune one, no big deal huh?, the MX5's run aluminium bonnets, the copy one was steel - fortunately my panel beater gave me the option, of repair or replacement - the repair was an easy repair so we kept the original lightweight bonnet.

Personally I use AMI and the Vero Classic Cover, when I finally get off my ass, I will put as many cars through the Classic Cover as I'm able, as the company (the old Joblin Classic Insurance) listens to the panelbeaters, and if the assessor "gets it wrong", will reassess the car themselves to get the right outcome for both parties.

[kiwiland 3]

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like I should be giving AA the heave ho. For my 2001 E39 after all the membership and no claims discounts they still want $735 to ensure it. Thats for a 73 year old living on the North Shore whose last claim was in 1969!

Edited December 19, 2008 by kiwiland

[kingkarl 136]

I choose AMI way back as I got to know someone high up in the organisation.

I'm family friends with CEO of tower insurance NZ . So naturally, they get all our business.

[M325is 0]

I had my car valued by BMW in New Market for free, who the hell charges 50-100 to get a car valued??

[Jeddy 0]

I had my car valued by BMW in New Market for free, who the hell charges 50-100 to get a car valued??

Really?

BMW Chch told me i'd need to see a classic car valuer because it was "too old."

Might have to get a valuation at some stage as i feel its under insured

[M325is 0]

Really?

BMW Chch told me i'd need to see a classic car valuer because it was "too old."

Might have to get a valuation at some stage as i feel its under insured

What do you own?

[Jeddy 0]

What do you own?

e30 318is