Insurance ... Sit down when you get your bill
- Thread starter Novar
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Try an online quote
I'm with suncorp and had a similar increase earlier this year. After picking myself up off the floor I got an online quote from the suncorp website and guess what - it came up several hundred dollars cheaper
I then called them to question the difference, and the answer I got back was "we don't match our own prices" - WTF!!
Anyway, after the call was transferred to a staff member who's job it was to negotiate premiums, they finally matched the online price.
Seems they value new clients a lot more than they do their existing ones. And once they have you then it's a case of 'bend over!!'
I'm with suncorp and had a similar increase earlier this year. After picking myself up off the floor I got an online quote from the suncorp website and guess what - it came up several hundred dollars cheaper
I then called them to question the difference, and the answer I got back was "we don't match our own prices" - WTF!!
Anyway, after the call was transferred to a staff member who's job it was to negotiate premiums, they finally matched the online price.
Seems they value new clients a lot more than they do their existing ones. And once they have you then it's a case of 'bend over!!'
Opened my house insurance bill today for PPOR.
Last year was $692, this year .....
drum roll
$1200 !
Suncorp house insured for $425,000 Contents $60,000
I'm still getting off the floor and will be making a phone call Monday!
How many people in your household?
$60k for contents wouldnt go far (carpets*, drapes*, furniture, clothes, appliances, personal effects, jewellery, books, cds, art, etc...)
*my understanding is that carpets and drapes are not covered in buildings insurance policies.
Carpets are certainly covered *somewhere*, we got ours replaced last year on an insurance claim. They're fixed so they'd be in the building not contents, drapes you could argue about forever since some are fixed, some are just thrown up there, etc etc. Probably building though, or no landlord would ever supply curtains for their tenants and I've lived in a *lot* of rentals with blinds and curtains provided.
$60,000 for contents is not enough I'm sure!
How is that enough to recover everything if *TOUCH WOOD* your house burns down. I think there's a danger in underestimating contents insurance.
How is that enough to recover everything if *TOUCH WOOD* your house burns down. I think there's a danger in underestimating contents insurance.
Depends on your policy of course, but clothes, furniture (beds, tables, lounges, chairs, tallboys, etc), computers, jewellery, DVDs, books, window-mounted air-conditioners, appliances and white goods, TV's, stereos, carpets, blinds, curtains, etc, would typically be covered.
Essentially any unfixed item in your house.
Essentially any unfixed item in your house.
Generally floor and window coverings would be covered under contents (not building, regardless of their fixed/unfixed status), hence when taking out insurance for an investment property you should add a component for contents to cover these items.
Hobo's right, both in terms of what is covered and that, as landlords, unless our IP has no carpet at all* and we don't supply curtains and blinds, then even we need a small contents policy too.
*Tiled floors, because they are fixed to the building, are covered by house insurance policies.
*Tiled floors, because they are fixed to the building, are covered by house insurance policies.
I think we have only about $60K for our furniture etc. It depends on what you actually have. Go from room to room and add it up roughly. We have built-ins in each room so really only a bed and bedside tables, maybe one chest of drawers in each room.
Two big TVs, few laptops, couple of leather couches and various other couches around the place, coffee tables, dining suite, buffets etc, pool table, exercise equipment, outdoor cane furniture, linen etc.
Thing is, if we lost it all in a fire, I would not go out to Harvey Norman and buy a house full of stuff. I would buy as we have done over the years, through ebay and careful picking up of nice stuff at good prices, so $60K is plenty for us.
Each family obviously is different.
Two big TVs, few laptops, couple of leather couches and various other couches around the place, coffee tables, dining suite, buffets etc, pool table, exercise equipment, outdoor cane furniture, linen etc.
Thing is, if we lost it all in a fire, I would not go out to Harvey Norman and buy a house full of stuff. I would buy as we have done over the years, through ebay and careful picking up of nice stuff at good prices, so $60K is plenty for us.
Each family obviously is different.
I'd be very surprised if it was enough. Sorry - you've stumbled on one of my pet subjects - the perils of under-insurance! Here beginneth the sermon...
What people forget is how much their clothes etc are worth. For example, many ladies would have 5 bras @ $50 each, plus 10 pairs of undies @ $10 each, plus 10 pairs of socks @ $10 each etc - easily $500 per person just for underwear! Then 10 t-shirts @ $20 each is $200. 4 pairs of jeans @ $100 each is $400... try it! Each person probably has $3-4K of clothes. If you have Defence/Police/Fire etc uniforms, you can probably double it. Then there's media: CDs/DVDs 200@$30 ea = $6K. I have about $15K just of books!
A bunch of other things that may not seem big and you may not think of, but which add up if you have to replace the lot at once: tools in the garage, cutlery, crockery, linen and towels (like sue78, that's huge for me - I love Egyptian cotton, too), mattresses, light fittings, window treatments, saucepans, cleaning products, small electrical appliances (all your kitchen gadgets, electric razors, etc), computers, computer software, luggage, kids' toys, toiletries, carpet, rugs, paintings, etc.
FWIW, I don't think we're extravagant (except for in books, possibly linen!), and we have our contents insured for $120K. I doubt many people who are established (ie 30 or over) would have less than about $80-100K of contents. We'd actually insure for $140K except for the fact that our insurer would require us to have all sorts of extra security installed, that we don't want.
People often say - as wylie said - oh well, I'd be happy with $60K to replace everything. But let's imagine that you have contents that you say you could replace for $60K at garage sales etc, but that the insurance company says has a replacement value of $120K, based on buying things new at regular prices.
You have a one-room fire - say in the kitchen - and smoke and water etc damages some adjacent rooms, destroying half the contents of the house. The insurers will first do an audit of the remainder of the house, to figure out how much contents you had. They estimate you have $60K of contents left undamaged, and thus that you actually had $120K of stuff and thus were 50% under-insured.
There are two lines they can take:
1) "You only insured 50% of your stuff. The stuff you had insured was the 50% of stuff that wasn't damaged in the fire, thus we're paying you zero."
Now I believe that either public sentiment and/or law have prevented insurers from interpreting in this manner anymore, but they certainly used to many years ago. (Can any insurance insiders or lawyers confirm that this interpretation is now gone, or otherwise?)2) "Here's $30K to replace the $60K of stuff actually lost, because you only insured half of it". Now it sounds like wylie would be happy with that, and would do bargain shopping to replace it for $30K. But wouldn't you rather have $60K and bargain shop, and pocket $30K for a deposit on another IP?
Or be able to buy all brand new stuff instead?Of course it's much more serious if you under-insure the building; you may be able to bargain shop for contents, but it's exceedingly difficult for non-builders (and even for builders!) to cut 50% from construction costs. Imagine if it costs $400K to reconstruct your house, and you only insured for $200K. You pretty much have to re-build the house, and you're $200K out of pocket - or end up with a much lesser house than you had before. Or if I'm wrong and the first interpretation above is still in existence, you could have half your house burn down and get ZERO to re-build.
It costs relatively little to have more coverage; IMHO, better a bit too much than too little.
Apologies - here endeth the lesson.
Hi there
we have just been through the process of obtaining insurance for my daughter's first purchase - she actually bought a unit that was fully furnished
I expected that what she had would have totalled about $10,000 but elected to use one of the online calculators to obtain a quote - it came out at around $40,000 - and when we did go to insure for that amount - the online calculator suggested there may still be underinsurance given the age of the parties involved and the material being insured.
I happen to agree with Ozperp - it is not worth underinsuring a property or its contents - having lost property in the fires in Canberra - and knowing how important proper insurance is to recovery (from both my perspective and my parents who also lost all their contents) - it is better to be over than under insured.
thanks
we have just been through the process of obtaining insurance for my daughter's first purchase - she actually bought a unit that was fully furnished
I expected that what she had would have totalled about $10,000 but elected to use one of the online calculators to obtain a quote - it came out at around $40,000 - and when we did go to insure for that amount - the online calculator suggested there may still be underinsurance given the age of the parties involved and the material being insured.
I happen to agree with Ozperp - it is not worth underinsuring a property or its contents - having lost property in the fires in Canberra - and knowing how important proper insurance is to recovery (from both my perspective and my parents who also lost all their contents) - it is better to be over than under insured.
thanks
We are four adults and our contents is $150,000.
We had a very small room fire four years ago; the carpets were in the contents section; needed to replace a computer and various electricals, plus a fibre wall and skirtings. The claim came to $10,000 of which 2/3 was under contents. That was for a very small area of one room. Imagine losing all your furniture, your electricals, carpets, curtains, clothes, beds, jewellery, books, kitchen ware, crockery etc. Way way more than $60,000. It costs much much more than you think to set up a new household.
Smoke gets into everything; usually if you have enough coverage, someone will come in and clean all your carpets, wash down all the walls, the venetians and dry clean all affected clothes.
On a tangent; I heard on the radio the other day that someone whose home burnt down and he had to rent while it was being rebuilt, was charged LAND TAX on his home because he wasn't living there at the time! Bloody thieves!
We had a very small room fire four years ago; the carpets were in the contents section; needed to replace a computer and various electricals, plus a fibre wall and skirtings. The claim came to $10,000 of which 2/3 was under contents. That was for a very small area of one room. Imagine losing all your furniture, your electricals, carpets, curtains, clothes, beds, jewellery, books, kitchen ware, crockery etc. Way way more than $60,000. It costs much much more than you think to set up a new household.
Smoke gets into everything; usually if you have enough coverage, someone will come in and clean all your carpets, wash down all the walls, the venetians and dry clean all affected clothes.
On a tangent; I heard on the radio the other day that someone whose home burnt down and he had to rent while it was being rebuilt, was charged LAND TAX on his home because he wasn't living there at the time!
Bloody thieves!I take the points above, but in reality our insurance is $100K (including jewellery) but having gone through our house, I am more than happy with $70K basic contents (just checked my policy).
I wouldn't replace at garage sales. I refuse to buy crappy stuff any more, as we had years of second hand stuff while we were busy building our IPs.
Just for an example of how I would buy to replace.... we just replaced our bed with a $900 retail (about right) padded leather bed which I got delivered to my door for $350 through ebay. Nothing shoddy or cheap about it, just a lovely bed for much less than I would pay through a store.
That is how I would go about replacing stuff if we lost the lot. I also love high thread count sheets, but just bought four sets brand new on ebay for less than half the cost in the shops.
That is why I am comfortable with the level of insurance I have, but as I said, each to their own.
I ALWAYS over insure for buildings, but am absolutely comfortable with our contents insurance, partly because at nearly 50, we are downsizing and giving away lots of "stuff" that we don't use, don't want and would not replace anyway.
I did work in the insurance part of a bank and saw some eye opening stuff, so very aware of the danger of under insuring.
P.S. Just wondering out loud here and curious if anybody knows the answer to this... Just say I insure my contents for $200K and the place burns down. I have extreme doubts that the insurance company would cough up $200K. I over insure our houses knowing that we are paying a little extra but over insuring contents (I imagine) would not ensure that you get the big payout. When the assessor combs through the remains of the house, wouldn't they decide that nowhere near $200K of contents means a lesser payout? Curious to know if anybody who has lost a house to fire or has any knowledge knows the answer to this?
I wouldn't replace at garage sales. I refuse to buy crappy stuff any more, as we had years of second hand stuff while we were busy building our IPs.
Just for an example of how I would buy to replace.... we just replaced our bed with a $900 retail (about right) padded leather bed which I got delivered to my door for $350 through ebay. Nothing shoddy or cheap about it, just a lovely bed for much less than I would pay through a store.
That is how I would go about replacing stuff if we lost the lot. I also love high thread count sheets, but just bought four sets brand new on ebay for less than half the cost in the shops.
That is why I am comfortable with the level of insurance I have, but as I said, each to their own.
I ALWAYS over insure for buildings, but am absolutely comfortable with our contents insurance, partly because at nearly 50, we are downsizing and giving away lots of "stuff" that we don't use, don't want and would not replace anyway.
I did work in the insurance part of a bank and saw some eye opening stuff, so very aware of the danger of under insuring.
P.S. Just wondering out loud here and curious if anybody knows the answer to this... Just say I insure my contents for $200K and the place burns down. I have extreme doubts that the insurance company would cough up $200K. I over insure our houses knowing that we are paying a little extra but over insuring contents (I imagine) would not ensure that you get the big payout. When the assessor combs through the remains of the house, wouldn't they decide that nowhere near $200K of contents means a lesser payout? Curious to know if anybody who has lost a house to fire or has any knowledge knows the answer to this?
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Is ducted airconditioner included in the contents insurance? How about a wall-mounted oven + cooktop and rangehood? Are exhaust fans, light fixtures, diswasher and dryer also included?
How much would it generally cost to re-carpet a 70sqm area? I didn't consider the carpets when I applied for the contents insurance.
I would say carpets are a fixture if they are laid down and they are not rugs.
That would be covered by building insurance right?
That would be covered by building insurance right?
Carpets came from our contents insurance. Now, airconditioning - we lodged a dispute with our body corporate when the inbuilt airconditioning blew up. Their Insurers said it was contents, our contents Insurers said it was building. In the end, the Body Corporate ended up having to reimburse us (through the QLD Govt dispute site?), not because they were necessarily wrong, but because they failed to inform people that the particular models installed needed an additional part. I think, in the end, it was deemed building, but that was because it was installed at the time of building as part of the structure. (It was an apartment complex built maybe 12 years ago, but only 5 years old when the motor blew)
Geeez!. . thats pretty steep.
I just spoke to my insurer and got landlord protection insurance with building cover of 400k for $750 per annum which seems quite reasonable.
I just spoke to my insurer and got landlord protection insurance with building cover of 400k for $750 per annum which seems quite reasonable.
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