Car insurance brokers

[Vic]

I have been reading through some of the insurance threads via the search feature but haven't quite found what I'm after, which is, are there car insurance brokers who deal primarily with companies that insure modified cars? Or even some institution that you can contact and ask questions about particular car insurance companies and how reputable they are?

[rag top]

I've used a broker on some of my modifieds - they ended up having it insured through Lloyds of London.

As for reputation, you always hear good and bad stories.

What sort of Q's did you have in mind.

[Vic]

Well Just Cars Insurance are of course happy to insure you with unlimited mods but their claim side is a bit rigid. They basically have their assessor get two quotes from approved JCI repairers and if you're lucky you can slip in a quote from your own choice of repairer. However, I have heard that no car insurance company can force you to have your car repaired somewhere that you don't want it done at and that you have the right to have it done at a place of your own choosing. I have no idea whether this is fact or fiction but I figured a car insurance broker would know all the rules and be able to advise accordingly.

[rag top]

I used Unique Car Insurance Services - I was 19, had a lot of mods on a VL V8, and insurance was only $500, and the car was valued at $19000. Same broker, RX7 S4, insurance was only $450, and I was 21. Most insurance companies wouldn't touch me, but they did and did so for a reasonable price. It was in the early to mid 90's.

[Yaw]

I know a bit about JCI,
The claims process is as it states.
Ordinarily what happens is they get 2 quotes from jci apporved repairers and then the assesor will choose the most competive and complete repairer,
Then they gaurantee the repairs for the life of the vehicle.

Yes you can nominate someone to do a quote and it is still up to the assesor to choose the most cometitve and complete quote.

There are a couple of things here though.
Firstly it is up to your nomiated repairer to even want to quote on the job, sometimes they will choose not to.

The most cometitve and complete quote does not mean the cheapest nor does it mean that the assesor will automatically choose the jci repairer.

Why I hear you ask?

Because the repairs are guaranteed for the life of the vehicle!!!!!!
JCI do not want to have to fix a car because of shoddy workmanship.

[Feathers]

When I was looking for insurance for the BA I was given the number for the Insurance Tribunal, as most places wouldn't touch a 21 year old in an XR6.
I just went back through my paperwork, but it seems I've thrown it out now.
I think GIO were the ones who gave me the number.
I ended up going with Young & Cool.
Just Cars wanted $4011 a year.

[Vic]

4G's is a lot of money, however, I'm in my thirties and have the Rating 1 for Life thingy plus the maximum NCB so my Comprehensive Insurance fee is around $700 or so, or would be had the RACV not increased my premium for no reason that they could explain. So now it's time to look elsewhere and JCI is a viable option. And the reason for my JCI claim query is that I got burnt badly by RACV's own approved repairer about 6 months ago. I had to take it back for rework two times after the initial crap repair.

[Yaw]

Under 25 drivers

From an insurance point of view,
It's not that they won't touch you, because thats simply untrue.
If you have licence cancellations, suspensions or disqualifications that is when they won't touch you, and the other side of the equation is the type of vehicle and its modifcations.
An insurance company works on a basic model car. as put out by the manufacturer. If that starts being altered then it is hard for an insuance company to factor thise things into a premium. The premium is the amout you pay, it is worked on statistics. There is the postcode the car is garaged...ie where it is most driven. Each indivdual insurer has its own claim statisics for everything. Most people attribute this to crime rate of an area, although that is part of it, it is by no means all of it. Its claims stats in that postcode.
For example East Brisbane where there are a lot of one way streets there are a lot of accidents occur there, thefore claims in that area raise premiums for that area.
Next there is age group, Like it or not under 25 drivers are not in a good group, especially 17-21 year olds with little experience on the road have 50% of all claims made with insurance companies, and when those claims are broken down even further the types of claims are more expensive, ie more damage caused.
Then there is statistics on the particular car you have.
the amount of claims concerning that and age groups of the claims come ito it. As you can imagine V8's and Turbo's are right up there on the theft lists and also accident lists.
That is why some insurance companies say no under 25's no under 30's in particular cases on some cars. The statistics of being able to set a premium are just unrealistic.
Modifiying a car, ok you make a car more powerful by putting on a sports exhasut system or lowering it to improve performance at high speeds....think about what a young driver is saying to an insurance company saying , I lowered my car to make it handle better, I put a larger exhast system on to make it more powerful.....Welll DUHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! why don't you just say I did this so my car goes faster than it is supposed to. Once again a premium is based on the standard model made by the manufacter. You add to it of course you add to the premium you pay, especially if you are a younger driver.
All too often you hear someone say ok I've rung back to get another quote on my car because I reveresed the modification. Yeah ok, the opperator will not call you a liar and take the buisness on becuase that is the information you disclosed. Come time to make a claim the insuarnce company then finds out you have more modifications than the car was supposed to may in fact void you claim as that was not the car that you discloused to be insured.
The car was not agreed to be insured in the first place. Because you basically falsified the type of car it was.

People always say oh what barstards insurance companies are, why don't you think about how many people are ripping off the system paying too little premium that also has to be factored into your premium price, so these people are making you pay more.
What about the poor insurance company that so many people try to defraud ?
Yaw

[Feathers]

Actually, about 7 places I called said 'NO' the second I said XR6. Stock.
Even if it had been in my father's name they would not cover me to drive it at all.
Even though I have never had a claim on my previous insurance, and the company agreed to give me a certificate stating that they had me on a 60% NCB.
One company even said they do not cover that model car.
And one place simply hung up on me.

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by Vic

4G's is a lot of money, however, I'm in my thirties and have the Rating 1 for Life thingy plus the maximum NCB so my Comprehensive Insurance fee is around $700 or so, or would be had the RACV not increased my premium for no reason that they could explain. So now it's time to look elsewhere and JCI is a viable option. And the reason for my JCI claim query is that I got burnt badly by RACV's own approved repairer about 6 months ago. I had to take it back for rework two times after the initial crap repair.

The reason premiums go up is the cost of repairs go up and statasitics change.
For instance lets take an obsucre type car for the ease of the example.
Lets say I have a Bently. The insurance company has 10 bentleys on its books for my age group. The year I joined up none of those ten on the books needed to make a claim. I had a cheaper premium that year because the statistics were good. In the following year my premium went up because those same ten on the books out of them 3 were caught in a hail storm and had to make a claim. that is 33.3% of all that type of car for my age group had made claims...of course the next years premium went up due to the statistics.
A big one I hear a lot is My agreed value has gone down, I have not made a claim but my premium has gone up. The value of the car until it gets up around $100000 make very little difference to a premium because the car can still do a lot of damage to another car and the cost of labor/and repairs keep going up too.

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by Feathers

Actually, about 7 places I called said 'NO' the second I said XR6. Stock.
Even if it had been in my father's name they would not cover me to drive it at all.
Even though I have never had a claim on my previous insurance, and the company agreed to give me a certificate stating that they had me on a 60% NCB.
One company even said they do not cover that model car.
And one place simply hung up on me.

All I can say to the last one you rang has very poor customer service.
As for the rest, it is up to the indiviual company to make thier underwriting guidelines. They do not HAVE to insure anyone outside of thier guidelines.
If thier guidelines state they don't do that model car that is obviously not the buisness they are after.

[Brute33]

Originally Posted by Yaw

Under 25 drivers

From an insurance point of view,
It's not that they won't touch you, because thats simply untrue.
If you have licence cancellations, suspensions or disqualifications that is when they won't touch you, and the other side of the equation is the type of vehicle and its modifcations.
An insurance company works on a basic model car. as put out by the manufacturer. If that starts being altered then it is hard for an insuance company to factor thise things into a premium. The premium is the amout you pay, it is worked on statistics. There is the postcode the car is garaged...ie where it is most driven. Each indivdual insurer has its own claim statisics for everything. Most people attribute this to crime rate of an area, although that is part of it, it is by no means all of it. Its claims stats in that postcode.
For example East Brisbane where there are a lot of one way streets there are a lot of accidents occur there, thefore claims in that area raise premiums for that area.
Next there is age group, Like it or not under 25 drivers are not in a good group, especially 17-21 year olds with little experience on the road have 50% of all claims made with insurance companies, and when those claims are broken down even further the types of claims are more expensive, ie more damage caused.
Then there is statistics on the particular car you have.
the amount of claims concerning that and age groups of the claims come ito it. As you can imagine V8's and Turbo's are right up there on the theft lists and also accident lists.
That is why some insurance companies say no under 25's no under 30's in particular cases on some cars. The statistics of being able to set a premium are just unrealistic.
Modifiying a car, ok you make a car more powerful by putting on a sports exhasut system or lowering it to improve performance at high speeds....think about what a young driver is saying to an insurance company saying , I lowered my car to make it handle better, I put a larger exhast system on to make it more powerful.....Welll DUHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! why don't you just say I did this so my car goes faster than it is supposed to. Once again a premium is based on the standard model made by the manufacter. You add to it of course you add to the premium you pay, especially if you are a younger driver.
All too often you hear someone say ok I've rung back to get another quote on my car because I reveresed the modification. Yeah ok, the opperator will not call you a liar and take the buisness on becuase that is the information you disclosed. Come time to make a claim the insuarnce company then finds out you have more modifications than the car was supposed to may in fact void you claim as that was not the car that you discloused to be insured.
The car was not agreed to be insured in the first place. Because you basically falsified the type of car it was.

People always say oh what barstards insurance companies are, why don't you think about how many people are ripping off the system paying too little premium that also has to be factored into your premium price, so these people are making you pay more.
What about the poor insurance company that so many people try to defraud ?
Yaw

Poor insurance companies. What planet were you born on ?

[Feathers]

Originally Posted by Brute33

Poor insurance companies. What planet were you born on ?

:hihi: :evil_laug :lookedat:

[b2tf]

Exactly, the hell with insurance companies. ing_sm

In Jan of 2004, i had an accident with a Patrol with a bullbar. Typical Blonde mum and 2 kids behind the wheel, doing 80 in a 50 zone, i pulled out of a parallel park doing maybe 5kms an hour (not even touching accelerator), and had the front of my car taken right off. Pushed me into another car, and her bullbar missed me in the drivers seat by only 30cm or so.

Got carted off to the hospital (windscreen shattered on me and got knocked out on the impact), someone gave the otehr driver my details and i though all was good. My car got fixed, so did hers as far as i am aware (all it had was literally one scratch on the bullbar).

About 6 weeks after all this, i get a letter from Swann insurance, and a bill. $4800. No itemised account of what this $4800 was for, just a bill and a letter saying 'pay up or be sued'.
I faxed a copy off to NRMA (my insurer), who were good about it, said they'd take care of it. So i thought it was all fixed.

A month later i get another letter from Swann, this time saying I'm being sued! This time they include an itemised account, and amazingly the bill has now gone up to $5400! Again sent a copy to NRMA and told them to fix it. Siad they would and that they were sorry it had happened.

A week after that i get a phonecall on my mobile, at 7 in the morning - from the claims department Manager of Swann. In a very nice way, he tells me to pay up or they'll be taking everything i've got. Hung up on him, and called the cops. Told them what had happened, they advised me to record any further phonecalls. Told NRMA this had happened too.

Finally after 3 more phonecalls at odd hours (one was at 9pm), i lost it. Called up Swann and told them i'd be sueing them for harassment. Well they soon backed right off after that, not after abusing me, telling me i was a criminal and hanging up on me.

Wasnt happy about that but at least it was all over.

So you can see why i dont like insurance companies!

[Vic]

Originally Posted by Yaw

The reason premiums go up is the cost of repairs go up and statasitics change.
For instance lets take an obsucre type car for the ease of the example.
Lets say I have a Bently. The insurance company has 10 bentleys on its books for my age group. The year I joined up none of those ten on the books needed to make a claim. I had a cheaper premium that year because the statistics were good. In the following year my premium went up because those same ten on the books out of them 3 were caught in a hail storm and had to make a claim. that is 33.3% of all that type of car for my age group had made claims...of course the next years premium went up due to the statistics.
A big one I hear a lot is My agreed value has gone down, I have not made a claim but my premium has gone up. The value of the car until it gets up around $100000 make very little difference to a premium because the car can still do a lot of damage to another car and the cost of labor/and repairs keep going up too.

Oh I understand that but when I ring up three other well known and established insurance companies and ask for a quote for comprehensive for my car just as it is now, they give me a price that has gone down from last year yet the RACV's premium has gone up. So far it seems it's just the RACV that has reversed.

[chief]

Also JCI are underwritten by AAMI. That is why their claims dept are very rigid.

Give Vigil a try. They are underwritten by OAMPS (I had no idea till I read into them). OAMPS is a company that insures insurance companies and brokers and speacilise in work cover and safety. No idea why they would want to get into the car market.

Vigil are very competitively priced and allow unlimited mods and choice of repairer. Also if you do want be insured through them, they will tell you the car needs to have an aftermarket alarm.

[Vic]

I wouldn't mind being able to inquire about the reputations of some of the insurance companies with a governing body or institution of some kind. Anyone know of one?

[Kryton]

when i was looking for insurance on the AU, 1 place asked what size rims i had.
"17x8s" i said
"thats fine, what brand are they"
"ANZ"
"so they're not made by Ford then"?
"no, ANZ made them"
"oh.... sorry we cant insure you then"

WTF???? if theyre on the market obviously they are safe to be used on the road.

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by davway

when i was looking for insurance on the AU, 1 place asked what size rims i had.
"17x8s" i said
"thats fine, what brand are they"
"ANZ"
"so they're not made by Ford then"?
"no, ANZ made them"
"oh.... sorry we cant insure you then"

WTF???? if theyre on the market obviously they are safe to be used on the road.

Exactly, it's that kind of stupid sh!t that ****es me off about insurance companies.

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by Vic

Oh I understand that but when I ring up three other well known and established insurance companies and ask for a quote for comprehensive for my car just as it is now, they give me a price that has gone down from last year yet the RACV's premium has gone up. So far it seems it's just the RACV that has reversed.

So it would seem RACV had different statistics than the other 3.
It happens. There is also what I have already stated
You get what you pay for.

N.B The instance mentioned by Back2thefuture proves that
NRMA should have dealt with his situation a lot better not to mention all he needed to do was to tell swann when they contacted him to contact NRMA and give them his policy number.

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by Vic

I wouldn't mind being able to inquire about the reputations of some of the insurance companies with a governing body or institution of some kind. Anyone know of one?

If you look at the back page of any insurance companies product disclousre statement they are required by law under the FSRA (finacial services reform act) to give the resolution service dept and list the IEC contact details which are a governing body for insurance companies.

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by back2thefutura

Exactly, it's that kind of stupid sh!t that ****es me off about insurance companies.

Ok so you got annoyed that they could not insure you. Obviously it seems in this instance that thier guidelines only allow for factory modifactions.

But putting that aside, are you not happy they told you before they took your buisness on rather than allowing the buyisness to go ahead, take your money, and then at claim time deny the claim ?

[Vic]

IEC stands for?

[Yaw]

Originally Posted by Vic

IEC stands for?

http://www.iecltd.com.au/