Home insurance w/ flood cover for Newcastle area

Hello everyone, first-time poster, long-time lurker. My wife and I have just bought a house in Hamilton, Newcastle (also own an apartment - or a bit of one at least - in Sydney's inner west which we'll rent out once we manage to relocate). As this is our first free-standing home we're trying to navigate the building insurance side of things for the first time and were hoping for some advice.

Like much of inner city Newcastle the home sits in a 1-in-100 year flood zone but wasn't affected by the 2007 floods, so we'll definitely be wanting flood cover. I've gotten quotes from AAMI (waiting to hear from them if they include flood cover, heard mixed things), GIO, NRMA, Suncorp and ANZ. The quotes came in in that order between $1k - $2k p/a. The list below suggests a lot of other options with flood cover included:
http://www.canstar.com.au/home-and-...ll-included-high-level-cover-new-south-wales/

Does anyone have any personal recommendations for home and contents insurance with flood cover? Give the seemingly increasingly turbulent weather flood insurance is something we might seriously have to claim on in the future, so we're happy to pay extra for the peace of mind that things will be taken care of in those circumstances.

Thanks and I hope I put this thread in the right forum!
 
Hello everyone, first-time poster, long-time lurker. My wife and I have just bought a house in Hamilton, Newcastle (also own an apartment - or a bit of one at least - in Sydney's inner west which we'll rent out once we manage to relocate). As this is our first free-standing home we're trying to navigate the building insurance side of things for the first time and were hoping for some advice.

Like much of inner city Newcastle the home sits in a 1-in-100 year flood zone but wasn't affected by the 2007 floods, so we'll definitely be wanting flood cover. I've gotten quotes from AAMI (waiting to hear from them if they include flood cover, heard mixed things), GIO, NRMA, Suncorp and ANZ. The quotes came in in that order between $1k - $2k p/a. The list below suggests a lot of other options with flood cover included:
http://www.canstar.com.au/home-and-...ll-included-high-level-cover-new-south-wales/

Does anyone have any personal recommendations for home and contents insurance with flood cover? Give the seemingly increasingly turbulent weather flood insurance is something we might seriously have to claim on in the future, so we're happy to pay extra for the peace of mind that things will be taken care of in those circumstances.

Thanks and I hope I put this thread in the right forum!


WBC

ta
rolf
 
Insurance is a major concern ATM, people on here who have not renewed insurance recently are going to get a surprise from some companies.

After looking around for a week or more it seems to me that every insurance company has happy campers and disgruntled customers so I can't really help you.

Some offer the option to opt out of flood insurance which can greatly reduce the cost but on enquiry of the cost it was quite interesting.

It seems that every insurance company (and in reality there are only 2 majors in Oz with lots of names) has mapped out every house in Australia. If your house is in a flood prone area your premium will be higher and the discount offered will be more. If your house is not flood prone then the premium is lower and the discount non existent.

It appears the insurance companies have made flood insurance an "opt out" situation rather than an "opt in" situation, a marketing ploy to avoid the bad publicity of the flood coverage confusion.
 
We had a house flooded in Brisbane and were with Suncorp - whinged about how expensive their policy was right up until the time that the house got totalled in the flood and we were some of the few who could actually make a proper claim:eek:. Must say Suncorp were also very good to deal with throughout the claim process.
 
AAMI sent me an amendment to my schedule claiming that there was no flood that was not covered by their policy. I called them to confirm that this included absolutely every possibility and was told that there is no flood claim that they will not pay out for after the changes went through.
This was within VIC and I will not guarantee that it is the same everywhere, however, I was told this was part of the reason that their premiums have recently gone up.
 
AAMI sent me an amendment to my schedule claiming that there was no flood that was not covered by their policy.

That's very interesting.. AAMI was the most competitive quote, less than half some of the others, but I am wary about getting what I pay for. I do have vehicle and contents insurance with AAMI and while I fortunately haven't had to lodge any claims on either I've found them very good to deal with. Decisions, decisions..
 
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