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Thread ID: 106924	2010-01-28 06:14:00	Insurance premiums	somebody (208)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
852858	2010-01-28 18:45:00	We shouldn't have mentioned ours,then we could have all stood around guessing.	Cicero (40)
852859	2010-01-28 18:49:00	The banks onsell existing Insurance companies policies, so why bother.	pctek (84)
852860	2010-01-28 20:33:00	I'm on the lookout for a new insurance company, after my premium (contents insurance) has gone up by 50% since this time last year - because the "cost of paying out claims has gone up". I can understand a 10-20% increase to factor in inflation, the state of the economy, and so on, but 50% is just an insult. Our contents insurance premium doubled when it was renewed in December so I was looking to change also. What made me wary is Consumer's warning about reading all the fine print about what is and is not included but as we are no longer members of Consumer I didn't have access to their website to read their comparisons. Will have to take out a subscription in order to do so. One thing I hate about car insurance is that the value of vehicles always goes down every year, sometimes significantly, but the premium always goes up. :mad:	FoxyMX (5)
852861	2010-01-28 21:21:00	One thing I hate about car insurance is that the value of vehicles always goes down every year, sometimes significantly, but the premium always goes up. :mad: I think there are a few that you can set a gauranteed amount cannot you :confused: but you may pay more for that privilege. If you just go for market value, that over time it will drop. One thing they tend to do IMO is overvalue the car, get you to insure that. The banks onsell existing Insurance companies policies, so why bother. Yeah many banks go with Cigna that way, althou if you want Cigna I don't think they actually sell it themselves, they tend to go via banks and credit card companies. One exception might be the advertised Cigna Funeral Plan. Yonks ago, when I had a few weeks in a insurance firm, - it was enlightening, you have multiple black and white laser printers with different sponsor (company) paper. In the same office you may be dealing with customers inputs say - new applicants for insurance and enquiries cos Cigna is the insurance underwriter for many - AMEX, BNZ, TSB, Cigna itself like Funeral Plans. Should they signed up, you in the same office print to the approp. printer and approp. printer tray which are loaded with each diff type of paper - that was the form for the customer - thank you for your business and here is your insurance certificate. Yup the certificate is off a b/w laser printer with a watermark on the paper itself originally. You also send out forms to customers to fill, such as if they expressed interest, and on the bottom of that paper was a tear form pre-made, just comes out of a b/w laser printer ....... Those calls you get who says, Mr Smith, did you get your new eftpos or CC in the mail and by the way I have this great insurance plan for you should you lose work to help your eftpos or CC out? Those are 3rd parties the bank contracts out. One company can be Cigna. They also the dudes who send out the forms asking for your business - like you have been preapproved etc etc for this insurance or this CC. They also send out the certificates when you signed up and they deal with it being a underwriter. The cold calling database is generated by the bank. So call after call the computer will auto dial your phone number. They tend to have limited info, they know what bank you are with and etc. But if you ask them, by the way can you tell me what is my balance or can I use this card overseas and what are the fees? They cannot tell you cos they have too limited info and they are not aware of the banks policies. They tend to say, we will get someone to call you back on that from the CC department :p	Nomad (952)
852862	2010-01-28 21:39:00	Yup. The same person may say, Good afternoon Mr Smith this is the BNZ calling and the next moment he or she may say this is AMEX calling how is your day ... blah blah ..... they use the screen in front of them to know what bank they are calling from and to know your name .... In terms of customer info, they are all lumped into the same database. Hit one code and it would filter it. You may get into one particular bank for example. Instead if you do a customer name search it would list all the products under his or her name ......	Nomad (952)
852863	2010-02-02 07:37:00	Just a quick update... After getting quotes from all of the major insurance companies, having a chat to them about how much my premiums are now and seeing if they could do anything to match or beat them, they were either more expensive, or could not offer the same level of cover. My bank came the closest, however was still about 10% more expensive than my current insurer. It looks like I'm stuck for the time being, and will just have to pay the invoice :(	somebody (208)
852864	2010-02-02 07:56:00	Foxy Don't know if it's the same where you live but Nelson library has all back copies for the previous year of consumer magazine but in the Reference section and not on the shelf with the current issues. Could be worth a look	gary67 (56)
852865	2010-02-02 08:00:00	I don't know if it's appropriate to State the name of the insurance company I'm with at this stage..... Ah, I guess they Tower over the rest? AM'I right?	beeswax34 (63)
852866	2010-02-02 08:00:00	AMI have a max claim of $2,000 for water damage. Fixing the kitchen was a lot more than that.	wotz (335)
852867	2010-02-02 08:46:00	AMI have a max claim of $2,000 for water damage. Fixing the kitchen was a lot more than that. That would be the limit for hidden gradual damage (like a leaking pipe in the wall), not sudden and accidental water damage (like a burst pipe flooding the kitchen), which shouldn't have any limit. AMI's Premier house policy actually limits a gradual damage claim to $1,500 so I'm unsure where the $2,000 amount comes from. Most insurers pay $2,500, or more (one of NZI's policies is $5,000). Another example is cover for carpets and floor coverings is not replacement over 5 years old. Most insurers are replacement regardless of age. Read your policy thoroughly, they are all online at www.ami.co.nz AMI is good for straight forward claims. There can be hooks with anything a bit unusual. One example is that they exclude any damage as a result of fault or defect in design, materials or workmanship. Fair enough, most insurers exclude that, BUT most insurers write back in the damage that was caused by it, meaning they won't pay to fix the pipe that burst but will pay for the damage that it caused. You're in the poo if a wiring fault that wasn't done correctly (and was defective even though you weren't aware of it) means your house burns down. I think Fair Go has seen some of these instances. Cheaper, yeah sure. Make sure your eyes are open though.	Jester (13)
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