Gethy

Hey Guys,

Sent off a few speculative emails to all the major insurance companies in Aus had plenty of responses and I arranged for someone to call me in the UK.

A guy from Suncorp has just called to run through a quote on the car we are intending to buy when we get to Aus. The process was pretty painless and he said I would get a rating of 1, I asked about not having a permanent address initially to which he said no problems and that we could use a holiday park or hotel for the first few weeks just give them the change of address when we move.

Anyone else used Suncorp for insurance?

What did/do you think if them?

The quote I got for our car was with windscreen and hire car cover, anyone had these as part of their insurance but when they came to claim had problems?

Cheers

007

Reputable QLD company specialising in banking, insurance and wealth management - it also owns GIO - another very large insurance company.

I've just switched over to them from Allianz, and have saved $100 per month on my policy. They're the cheapest going around (for me anyway).

Gethy

Thanks for that,

Really impressed they called me in the UK, I think we will go with them. We are happy with the quote and I am always impressed with people put the extra effort in.

Cheers

007

Most of the insurance companies here have online quote facilities.

Try the following just in case you can save a few $$$, as every $ is going to help when setting up.

www.aami.com.au
www.nrma.com.au
www.racq.com.au
www.qbe.com.au
www.budgetdirect.com.au

All are major companies, who should pay up if needed.

Bix

Got all our insurances with them.....CTP, comp, house and contents.

We have had a lot of administration trouble with them. You go to any of the numerous local outlets and explain what you want and make the changes. Then when confirmation comes through the post it's not what you wanted, not what you asked for and contradicts the bit of paper you were given in the local branch.

I've even had documents come through quoting 3 different addresses on them for where I live ! It's almost as if they do it on purpose so they can default if anything happens.

Son also insured his car through them. He had an accident and they did everything possible not to pay out on what the police said was a
straightforward case.

The policeman involved even had a couple of calls from them requesting he put "things" in writing that would enable them to renage. As a consequence of all the crap he was without a car for nearly 3 months. They could find nothing untoward so eventually had to pay. We never even got a notification or phonecall about it though. Guess they were sulking.

Another consequence is that they will be losing all my business at renewal time. I'm fed up with wasting time having to do everything twice, the inefficiency and attitude.

They may be a little cheaper but it's not worth the hassle anymore.

Louise M

I found them really expensive!! They have charged me $77 per month all inclusive but AAMI have quoted me $54 p.m. I still think this is expensive. No accidents in 25 years, full no claims bonus from the UK with letter to prove it.
MY bro only pays $34 p.m.

Gethy

Yeah they quoted me 74 pm on a new X-Trail, which I thought was cheap but looks like I will shop around.

Thanks for the replies guys

Cheers

Centurion

I use Suncorp for evertything, home, car etc and had no problems at all.

adriang

I use http://www.justcarinsurance.com.au/ for my car (Subaru WRX) and I use www.shannons.com.au for my motorcycle and scooters.

steve`o

yes we use suncorp and we have the windscreen and hire car cover too
$20 for each added to the premium so it would be daft not to

unfortunutly we had to use it too
within five weeks of getting our new car it had been shunted from the rear whilst parked ! we were only a couple of metres away so we mangaed to get the drivers details address etc but not her phone number
( i know we dont, but we should read the small print )
when i contacted suncorp re the accident as i didnt have all the 3rd parties contact details ie contact number they were going to slap an excessof $400
wtf i said! read the small print they said
and there it is in all accidents contact phone numbers must be taken failure to do so $400 excess
luckily as i had the ladies home address i drove round got her phone number and gave it to suncorp where they said i didnt have to pay any excess

went down to the local suncorp crash assessement centre
very polite well organised ( taxis etc on hand to take you home )
this is where i really got wound up though
the crash examiner looked at the vechile and said
yeah we will fill in the door and get it sprayed
wtf ( second time in one day )
your not going to replace the panel / door
o no its much cheaper to fill n spray
its all gaurenteed
get to fooooook
your not filling and spraying a five week old car
i want my car in the condition it was in just prior to the accident
i then had a heated arguement with the crash assessor and his manger untill they agreed that they would carry out proper repairs

the vechile was taken to a local crash shop and the door etc was repalced ( i did ask the repairers and examined it minutley afterwards
there you go sir that wil be $400
wtf ( third time ) excess sir you didnt get all the 3rd parties details
( after almost another hour on the phone with suncorp they admitted that it hadnt be added to the computor records and that it was excess free )

why all this hassle ??? the 3rd party was also insured with suncorp so either way they had to stand the cost of repairing two vechiles and wanted the cheaper option


my experiance therefore is
always try to read the small print and be prepared to argue for what you have already paid for

whilst this is my experiance with suncorp i dont nesseseraly belive that it is indictive of the way the compamy runs it just could be the luck of the draw


thanks for reading

steve

blowfly

We have used suncorp since being here. We use it for all our insurance. Unfortunatley we have also made 4 claims in the 17 months we have been here and they have been great not a problem at all.

matt-and-jenny

I actually found Suncorp expensive as well,when renewing my car insurance, compared to AAMI. But I wanted to stay with as I've had good service, and now have Rating 1 for life with them, so I asked them to match AAMI's quote and they did!
J

007

Try QBE mate.

You've probably had some issues securing reasonably priced insurance like me, owing a high performance car and all. (I own a HSV).

I was happy with my Suncorp quote, but just did one with QBE and have saved a further $40 per month.

QBE might be worth a try for you too as they, unlike many others, don't seem to mind out of the ordinary cars.

Shannons and Just cars werent competitive at all for me.

Can't believe I'm offering help to a WRX driver, the enemy!

walaj

was insured suncorp for first year and had to claim (now GIO as slightly cheaper). Car less than 6mths old, guy went into back of me at low speed, but the bumper did its job and needed sorting out. That was 3wks before I was due with bubs #2, with a car essential to get me to hospital.

Take car to local repair centre (GIO) who arrranged for car to be repaired at repair place easier for me to get to & next to car hire place. Taxi paid for to car hire place. This is with toddler in tow.

Wait ages (budget) eventually get vehicle which is a 3dr tin on wheels. Car seat was a pain to fit as was placing wriggling toddler in with a big bump in the way and minimal space in the v small car. (compared to insured car being a wagon)

As other driver admitted fault it was all handled in one phone call (glad I got his phone #). Reapir place made some effort to speed up repairs and make it a bit easier. They know Budget won't do things like phone up to confirm car hire as they are required to do - the car provided & Budget service (or lack of) was the only area that let the claim down.