Insurance WTFs

[mike_nofx]

Just thought i'd share a bit of a "WTF" on my latest insurace renewal.

Start from the beginning, I bought my 06' BF egas Futura wagon in August 10' for $10k. When arranging insurance with NRMA I organised an agreed value of (from memory) $12k, which was infact at the low end of the market value.
Reasons being, it lowered my premium (over costs of "market value" insurance) AND I felt a $12k payout if there was a total loss was more than fair, seeing I only paid $10k.

Anyway, come renewal time in 2011, agreed value through depreciation had dropped to $10,900. Premium $674.26, Still fair, So I renewed as normal.

Now here comes my 2012 renewal, $632.49 premium (I was surprised it actually dropped!) but realised my basic excess had risen from $600 to $650, and the new agreed value through depreciation was only $8,550, which I wasn't too happy about.
Did my car really drop in value by $2350 in one year? Maybe.

So I call up to ask about the value of the car, to which they answer depreciation. I then ask what market value currently is, and it is $9-$12k depending on kms, condition, extras etc etc.

So now I changed to market value, premium dropped from $632.49 to $625.93, and my car is insured at a minimum (by todays rate) $450 more.
Considering my car is one of the nicer examples, and kms arent THAT high, its probably worth more than the $9k minimum.

Just a reminder to check your renewals!