Warning to all who insure their cars..

[vispix]

Hi Guys,
I have not posted here for a while but always come to visit and read up on stuff.
I feel I really need to give everyone a heads up about car insurance companies and my recent bad experience which I will learn from.
Some might say it is my own fault for not reading the very fine print..but if I can help someone from going through the same thing I did then..I will have achieved something.

To cut a long story short...if you want the FULL insured value of your car then insure it for $1500 MORE.

I owned an immaculate AU series 2 forte. 132,000 ks on the dash.
It had heaps of new gear under the hood and a $3000 2 year old gas system in it. 11 months rego.
She was my baby.

Then one afternoon, I was driving down to the shops and was following a Red BMW in front of me, we were in the left lane and the right lane was clear. As we turned the corner this stupid @@#*& BMW driver slammed on her brakes because she saw a car park and did not want to miss it. I was a couple of car lengths behind her and you just do not expect someone to stop dead in the middle of the lane do you.

So I swerved into the right lane to miss the idiot in the BMW, which I successfully did and this young 18 yo who was speeding in the right lane %$$$#^%#$ slammed right into me. T-Boned me.

He pushed me 15 mtrs down the road and he said He was not speeding. Yeah right mate. Even the panel shop guy said he hit me really hard to do this damage.

The car was a write off.

Anyway.. I was insured (full comp) and My car was insured for $6000 but was probably worth $7000.

Now, here is the interesting bit...
By law..I am at fault because I swerved to avoid the BMW and to avoid having an accident and in turn by doing this caused an accident.

So, the BMW idiot in front of me gets away with it and the young tool who was speeding gets away with it and I end up paying.

However, What did the insurance company pay me even though my car was insured for agreed value of $6000 ???

here it is.. $4370.

Why!

Well you guys know that they take out the excess... mine was $550
That part I knew.

But then they explained to me that they take the whole damn policy out as well. $500 bux worth.

and...and..wait for it...
they took out the 11 months rego I had left on the car.

So.. $6000 - $550 excess - $500 policy - $580 rego = $ 4370

So my $7000 AU went to some wreckers or auction yard.
The other two morons get away with it scott free,
and I end up with $4370.

I told the insurance company that I can understand that they take the excess and I can even put up with the policy fee being taken as well... but not the ^#$#^&^ 11 months rego.

How unethical is that folks.

So... when you insure your car for agreed value...add on another $1000 to $1500 more.

What do you guys think about this?
I am sure not everyone knows that they screw you blind when you have an accident.
If you are not at fault, then sure you do not pay... but guess what?
The same applies if you get it stolen.
They take the excess, premium and rego.

Unreal hey.

I hope this helps anyone thinking about what they need to insure there car for.

Vis

[vztrt]

I assume you were paying month to month for the insurance?

Also I don't see why they would take out rego as it has nothing to do with an insurance company.

Never had this problem...mind you I've never had to claim a written off car before.

[ELGT4me]

Originally Posted by vztrt

I assume you were paying month to month for the insurance?

Also I don't see why they would take out rego as it has nothing to do with an insurance company.

Never had this problem...mind you I've never had to claim a written off car before.

That has me astounded, was the insurance company paying your rego?

[vispix]

Originally Posted by ELGT4me

That has me astounded, was the insurance company paying your rego?

Exactly.
But to the insurance company..they now own your car if they pay you out and so the agreed value needs to include the remaining rego as well.
That's what the R$$V told me.

I also looked at CGU and a couple of others policy books and they all say the same.
They take the unused portion of rego.

It wouldn't be so bad if you only had 1 month left on your rego... but when you have 11 months left and you pay $630 up front... and then the insurance company gets it...that just ****** you off.

[ELGT4me]

Originally Posted by vispix

Exactly.
But to the insurance company..they now own your car if they pay you out and so the agreed value needs to include the remaining rego as well.
That's what the R$$V told me.

I also looked at CGU and a couple of others policy books and they all say the same.
They take the unused portion of rego.

It wouldn't be so bad if you only had 1 month left on your rego... but when you have 11 months left and you pay $630 up front... and then the insurance company gets it...that just ****** you off.

Interesting, a family member wrote off my XR6 (EB) I was paid out for the total loss of the vehicle (eventually). I then returned the plates (custom) off the car, cancelled the rego, & received a refund, although it was no where the value of the remaining rego. My vehicle was under comprehensive insurance. As a wise man said, "insurance companies do not make money being nice to people!!!"

[vispix]

Hey VZ,
Yes I was paying month to month and just renewed the policy 1 week before the accident.
But just as an example..
If I had paid it in full..they still would have taken the whole years premium.
So just say I paid the $500 up front and had the accident a week later... theres $500 down the drain.
Mind you, I now need to start a new policy and pay another $500 again..and they take the other $500 premium that I got a weeks worth out of.

And yep, they take the damn rego as well dude.

Here are the words straight from the disclosure book...

" We will pay you the agreed value after deducting...
- any unpaid premium
- any excess
- The unused portions of your registration and vic roards third party liability insurance"

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by vispix

Hey VZ,
If I had paid it in full..they still would have taken the whole years premium.
So just say I paid the $500 up front and had the accident a week later... theres $500 down the drain.
Mind you, I now need to start a new policy and pay another $500 again..and they take the other $500 premium that I got a weeks worth out of.

And yep, they take the damn rego as well dude.

Here are the words straight from the disclosure book...

" We will pay you the agreed value after deducting...
- any unpaid premium
- any excess
- The unused portions of your registration and vic roards third party liability insurance"

Yep, happened to me,

Paid for a full years worth of insurance with AAMI for around $2300, a few weeks later I total the car in a not at fault accident, because the car is written off, they "don't have any obligations to refund the premium" and they keep the refund from the rego which was 11 months worth.

So all up it cost me $2300 + rego refund + few weeks with no car + $1779 for another insurance policy on the new car + CD #3 of my floor fillers disco CD that was in the player and my floor mats.

Oh yeah, and my glasses are screwed when the airbag hit me, so I'm up for another $400 for those.

Not bad, cost me nearly $4500 because someone accidentally had the steering wheel turned the wrong way and punched the accelerator to show off.

At least I got the last frozen white 6sp manual TDCI LV MKI Focus left in Australia, exactly the same as my previous one.

[paule11]

Rego sounds rough dont know how they can do that and dont know about the premium either. How are you paying that ?

[vztrt]

Did you take your plates off the car? As you should be able to get a refund on your rego.

[Scott]

Firstly, they did not take your "policy" - you pay an mount to be insured so I don't understand why you think they took something that wasn't theirs?

Secondly, the car is no longer yours - it is theirs. If you sold it would you expect to keep the rego??

Thirdly, you're taking out a new policy on a *new* car, why do you think they should insure it for free???

Sorry mate, I think you need to think through things a little more before you go off the deep end.

[vispix]

Hey Guys,
I don't dispute I was not at fault here.
Accidents do happen and that is why we have insurance right?
However, we were doing a slow speed but even then you need some pretty quick reflex's to stop in time and not hit the back of a car.

second, I do not dispute that the insurance company does not have the right to take the excess that is normal...

thirdly, I thought that if you had an accident...that your remaining $$ on the policy would transfer over to the new car... my stupid fault for not knowing..fine.

but... what ****** me off... is that they take the value of the rego.
That is just wrong..in my opinion and in alot of other peoples opinions that I have spoken too.
Yes, I can go to Vic roads and get the refund on the rego... BUT... the insurance company takes that amount off the pay out figure... so you may as well kiss that rego good bye.

I just don't think people take this into consideration when insuring there cars.

I suppose if you only had 1 months rego left... it wouldn't be so bad... but how would you feel if you just paid $630 bux and a week later you had an accident and they take $600 odd dollars off the payout figure?

Also, when you SELL a car with 12 months rego... you will get more for it yes? well you would hope so anyway... but in an insurance claim...you lose that...so what I am saying is... always keep this in mind.

Also, I just want to tell you guys my story so if it helps you out when you need to think about how much you need to insure your car for..then at least I have helped some people out..

No harm in that is there guys...?

I just want you guys to think about it..when you go to insure your baby.
If I get you thinking and can save you some $$ then I am glad I helped out.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by vispix

Also, I just want to tell you guys my story so if it helps you out when you need to think about how much you need to insure your car for..then at least I have helped some people out..
No harm in that is there guys...?

No harm in that at all mate.

[Yaw]

If you pay by the month insurance. It is still based on an annual figure.
If you have a claim within the first month of a 12 month policy and the claim is a write off, you will still owe the 11 months you have not paid. This is 100% correct and proper. Otherwise you would have paid 1/12 of what someone who paid the full 12 months have paid for the same benifit...hardly fair on the person that pays up front I would think.

As for the rego When you sell a car a rego is sold with it. Basically when you are paid out the fair and reasonable market value of the vehicle, it includes the rego. Hence that is part of the salvage that the insurer is entitled to. after all they paid you out for the car.

As for not being at fault, yes I see you have swerved to avoid an accident, however if you have of been driving at a distance safe enough not to have hit the car in front of you in an emeregncy situation, you would not have had to swerve and would have been able to pull up in time to avoid an accident at all. Regardless of weather or the not car in the lane beside you was speeding the law states when you change lanes you must give way to all traffic in that lane. So As much as you don't wish to hear what I have to say. These are the facts and it all seems fair and reasonable to me.

[AWD Chaser]

I recently went through a write off with AAMI when someone burnt my HSV to a cinder.

I was paying month by month and just had the policy renewed a few months prior.

The car was worth over $20k (which it was insured for), but the insurance policy was $2200 annually... They took over $2000 (remainder of the 12 month policy) from my total payout figure - and this is written in the booklet you get. I was able to get a refund on the remainder of the rego (NSW RTA), but not the yearly plate fee - I had HSV design plates.

There is alot you dont realise until you go through it...

[gtxb67]

it seems perfectly understandable to me. the excess is obvious. if you are paying by the month - the full amount for the policy is obvious. i did not expect, but understand the rego part too. they now own the car, so anything that is part of the car is now theirs. they effectively bought your wreck off you and the wreck had rego, so they now have it

it is good that you have warned people, so they know from now on, but i do not really see the problem with it

[ebxr8240]

^^^^^
^^^^^

[GRNKPR]

its easy read the 923,6348719327647546 page book you get with your new policy i think you will find all you need to kmow in there somewhere ,thank you and have a nice day SIR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vztrt]

I don't understand the rego part. Wouldn't you pay the 'transfer fee' rather then the registration? If the car had 6 months worth of rego left and it is written off why would they need to register it again?...or am I missing something?

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by vztrt

I don't understand the rego part. Wouldn't you pay the 'transfer fee' rather then the registration? If the car had 6 months worth of rego left and it is written off why would they need to register it again?...or am I missing something?

they don't need to register it again - once they have paid out on a vehicle that is written off, they now own the vehicle - and that includes the rego

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

they don't need to register it again - once they have paid out on a vehicle that is written off, they now own the vehicle - and that includes the rego

Which means they could get a refund from it.

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Which means they could get a refund from it.

who gets the refund. i believe the owner (before the crash) can cash in the rego and get the money back, but the insurance company will then take that amount from the payout figure, because for all intents and purposes the insurance company now own the car, plus the rego, fuel, oil, air etc. etc. - they own everything but personal belongings i believe

[vispix]

Hey GT and Mrslow,

I posted above...

"I suppose if you only had 1 months rego left... it wouldn't be so bad... but how would you feel if you just paid $630 bux and a week later you had an accident and they take $600 odd dollars off the payout figure?"
Even though you cash the rego in and hand in the plates... Vic roads will give you $600 and the insurance company takes the $600.. unreal hey.

So you think you will get $6000 for the payout figure PLUS the $600 for cashing in the rego..so $6600. but no... you only end up with $6000.

I suppose if you own a $20,000 car it is not so much of a deal because $600 isn't a big % of what the car is worth.
But if you own a $6500 car then $600 being taken off your payout figure.. may sting a bit.

[MrsLow006]

So what I understand of this is that the Insurance company deduct the Rego out of the policy payout and then hand the plates over to VIC roads and get a refund for the rego paid (by you) aswell WTF - double dipping if you ask me.
Maybe you should ask if you were meant to take the rego plates in and get the refund from VIC roads. My understanding is the insurance company is "buying" the car - paying you and it is unroadworthy so therefore sold without plates, so you take possession of plates and hand them in.
Sheesh I need another wine

[nstg8a]

im confused, why does his payout reduce for rego? wouldnt the car be worth less with no rego?
or can the op now go and claim his rego back from the relevant govt department?

say a car is worth 4k un-rego'd.
for arguements sake 12 months rego is 1k
so he writes off the car which is effectively worth 5k

agreed value is 4k, how can the insurance company then reduce the payout to 3k because it has 1k of rego on it? if anything shouldnt it go the other way?
or do they do this assuming the insured will cash in remaining rego?

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

im confused, why does his payout reduce for rego? wouldnt the car be worth less with no rego?
or can the op now go and claim his rego back from the relevant govt department?

the original poster cashes in his rego (maybe the insurance company cannot legally do it, or maybe they are just too busy/lazy), the insurance company then deducts this amount that the original poster now has from the payout figure

no double dipping - the original poster (and a few of us here) have all learnt something

unfortunately it is another slap in the face we get from time to time, because insurance companies are not charities - they are businesses and as such need to watch every dollar. if they did not take the rego money from us on payouts, we would be paying an extra few hundred dollars each year on rego and then complaining that rego is too high

[nstg8a]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

the original poster cashes in his rego (maybe the insurance company cannot legally do it, or maybe they are just too busy/lazy), the insurance company then deducts this amount that the original poster now has from the payout figure

no double dipping - the original poster (and a few of us here) have all learnt something

unfortunately it is another slap in the face we get from time to time, because insurance companies are not charities - they are businesses and as such need to watch every dollar. if they did not take the rego money from us on payouts, we would be paying an extra few hundred dollars each year on rego and then complaining that rego is too high

ok, so its not so bad if the insured still has the right to claim back the rego from the govt.

however shouldnt the amount taken by the insurance company match what the govt returns, not what the full value of the rego is?

eg, a member on another forum recently wrote of his xr8, had paid for 12 months rego one month prior to accident, the govt return on rego was just $400. so it has effectively cost him $600 for one months rego.

so while the insurance company would take out $8-900 as the rego value, the insured will get considerably less than that back upon cashing in the rego.

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

however shouldnt the amount taken by the insurance company match what the govt returns, not what the full value of the rego is?

Originally Posted by vispix

and...and..wait for it...
they took out the 11 months rego I had left on the car.

it seems it was the remaining part of the rego




the original poster was no doubt a little unlucky with the timing. to lose virtually a year of rego and insurance is a kick in the teeth

[vispix]

Originally Posted by gtxb67

it seems it was the remaining part of the rego




the original poster was no doubt a little unlucky with the timing. to lose virtually a year of rego and insurance is a kick in the teeth

Yes GT it was..
I am still feelin it too.

Anyway..All I would like out of this is..
1. I learn from it and insure my car for $1500 over what it is worth agreed value.
2. I get you guys thinking if your pride and joy is insured for the correct amount and make sure you get what you want and need from the insurance company on final payout to buy a new car. without having to fork out another $1500 if you are as unlucky with timing as me.

I keep thinking to myself... why couldn't I have had the accident... 11 months AFTER I paid the rego and insurance. Or even not at all.

**** happens hey.

[SLO AU XR8]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

ok, so its not so bad if the insured still has the right to claim back the rego from the govt.

however shouldnt the amount taken by the insurance company match what the govt returns, not what the full value of the rego is?

eg, a member on another forum recently wrote of his xr8, had paid for 12 months rego one month prior to accident, the govt return on rego was just $400. so it has effectively cost him $600 for one months rego.

so while the insurance company would take out $8-900 as the rego value, the insured will get considerably less than that back upon cashing in the rego.

The member on another forum was myself. My AU was written off by an unisured driver on Monday. Rego cost me basically $1k ($987 actually) on April 24, to be written off May 23. Due to only having 3rd party, I haven't been able to make a claim on my insurance about being hit from behind.

Rego has left me $600 behind, for 1 month, and then the fact that 6 months ago, when I was unemployed, 3rd party was a stretch. Due to this I couldn't afford $1.5k for full comp, so rather than be completely uninsured, 3rd party, at $370, was the option.

Since the accident, I have been made aware of another option from another forum member involved in underwriting, but due to the actions I had taken, I am unable to make such claims. Do not trust anything that is said by anyone who does not have first hand experience.

[nuthin' fancy]

It is a tough lesson for sure but there is no surprise there for me, I know all that you have stated. You can negotiate with them for the value of improvments or remove alterations that were not in place when the vehicle was oriignally insured. It is a salutory note that any insurance premium is paid annually but if you pay monthly you have to make up the balance due for that year as part of any claim.