AAMI Car Insurance

[amanda]

Hi all - just in case anyone is with AAMI for comprehensive car insurance - make sure you select the 'rental car if you're in an accident' option for around $25.

We were in a car accident on Sat arvo (t-boned) - our previous insurer was fast and efficient & we had choice of repairer who provided a courtesy car. AAMI have an option for a rental car that we didn't pick up because we thought things would be handled quickly if we had an accident.

AAMI will finally have assessed our car & selected a repairer by Friday and it won't be another 1-2 weeks after that until it's repaired - and their repairer doesn't have a courtesy car.

Luckily, my mum doesn't use her car on the weekend and my brother in law has 2 cars and 2 bikes - so we always have access to a car.

But I thought the process of organising repairs would be quick and easy - NOT! So it's worth the extra $25 on our policy.

Just a word of warning for all

[Grunt]

Hi Amanda

We used to use AAMI and had the same experiences with them. The service was not that slow. The repairs are good and if you do find any fault highlight it to them and they will fix them straight away. Did you take the car to Mascot or Chipping Norton? We found Mascot was way faster and easier just used their option of picking and dropping us off by taxi at their cost.

[amanda]

Grant - we didn't get a choice - had to be taken to Chipping Norton for some reason. It just seems slow compared to our previous insurer (NRMA) - had the accident, same day assessment at a repairer, car was back in 1.5 weeks.

[Grunt]

we had a choice, By the way the hire car option is not that cheap, it only gives you a discounted hire ,not free so you pay in the end for it. I found it cheaper to hire from someone else than go the hire car option they gave.

[amanda]

Hmmm - I was under the impression that they provided a car free of charge (better check the fine print) - in any case, I was offered a rate of $35 per day for a small car (like a Hyundai Accent).

I think Bayswater Rentals in Sydney is the cheapest - around $25 a day.

[markTHEblake]

Did you know that if your car is stolen, they only pay for the hire car until your stolen car is found?

Great, My car was stolen and had crashed into 3 police cars several hours before i even knew it was stolen. It was even on the 6 oclock news before i knew what happened.

Despite the car being written off, still they dont pay for a hire car, because the car had been found. Mongrel Insurance Companies.

Meanwhile I had to find out how to travel 40k home from work, no buses, no help from insurance company. In the end a copper felt sorry for me and drove me home.

[Reg del SamI]

Hi everyone

Know a little bit about the insurance caper - not enough to give proper advice but a few tips...

Recent laws mean on car and home insurance the insurance company has to give you a product disclosure statement - in plain English setting out all the covers and what's not covered. It's a bit easier to read that the policy wordings and they must give it to you before you sign on.

It's a pain to have to read for these things but next time you're looking at renewing your insurance ask for the statement (they have to give it to you) and check out the bit on hire cars. Or even ask on their customer call line.

I'm pretty sure some companies give hire cars until your car is ready for you - pays to shop around a bit and you can often do it on line.

[amanda]

We've just been given an estimated completion date - 23rd of August - and strangely enough it's the same day Brad goes for his surgery!

[amanda]

Just a little update - we still don't have a car - mid-August they tell us the car needs a new wiring harness - and that one will have to be manufactured in Japan. I was waiting until last week for the ETA on the part - 22nd Oct

Luckily, I can borrow my little bro's car during the day - but it was a PITA not having a car on the weekends - no golf, no shopping, no nothing!

After much hassling of Subaru Australia - they are delivering a brand spanking new Liberty to my place tomorrow for me to drive around until my car is ready

AAMI has been hopeless - someone at work mentioned that I should call Subaru to try and get a demo car from them to drive since they are holding up the repair of my car - I called AAMI about this and they said it wasn't their problem!

Oh I wish for a day when cars were a little more simple!

[jaster]

Well done on the car, that is BS about the harness

[markTHEblake]

I thought that AAMI had that guaranteed repair time thing.

And i cant beleive a wiring harness has to be manufactured..... have you got some sort of rare tour version Suburu?

at least your getting a shiny new car to drive around. better check the insurance conditions though

[Webster]

Amanda,

I actually have nothing but good things to say about AAMI. My work car was pinched from outside my house last year (with golf clubs in the boot ) and was never recovered by the police. AAMI were terrific all the way through and I had a hire care for two weeks free of charge at my disposal the very next day.

I was worried that the market value of the car wasn't going to be enough to pay out the lease, but thankfully AAMI paid out the lease in full and there were a few hundres dollers left over for my pocket which covered the excess and personal items. (My golf equipment was insured through my club membership so that worked out well also).

And to top it off, AAMI didn't bend me over when it came to insuring my new car - rating one for life despite being with them for only 2 years. I rate their service highly, maybe I was just lucky to be dealing with someone who gave a toss.

Thats said, however, if I can find a cheaper premium next year I'll jump ship at a moments notice. Its only insurance after all.

Jack.

[Flowergirl]

I too am very happy with AAMI. A couple of years ago someone backed into my car in the car park outside my shop. 100% his fault - he was a very nasty little aggressive druggie who would come in the shop and abuse me and my girls cos he said my insurance company was "hassling" him. I asked AAMI not to persue him for the money because I was scared of what he would do - so they let it go. I paid my excess - as usual - and they footed the repair bill.
How good was that.

[markTHEblake]

AAMI were terrific all the way through and I had a hire care for two weeks free of charge at my disposal the very next day..

Your a lucky man, cos if the coppers found it, you dont get the hire car.

Best thing you can do when your car gets pinched, tell the coppers fibs about which way they went.

[Grunt]

We used to be with them, no real hassles but changed due to the fact they were no longer any cheaper with their so called 70% NCB even though the other companies were only 60% NCB.

[amanda]

All of my previous experiences with AAMI were very positive up until they found out that the wiring harness needed replacing - they just didn't seem to know what to do in the situation that a part is going to take months to arrive.

Before then - they gave me frequent update calls and lots of info. Oh well After some enquires and phone calls - Subaru have been great.

They delivered a dark grey Outback at lunchtime with a full tank of petrol and 120km on the clock. The only draw back - the car is automatic! I've never driven an automatic car - so I had to go for a 5 minute drive around the neighbourhood to figure it out.

[markTHEblake]

I just did a quote with AAMI cos i heard they were cheaper now, but they are double the price of my current insurer - Budget Direct.

I hate insurance companies.

[BrisVegas]

i just changed from budget direct to aami!! go figure! aami were within $100 of bd's price, so i figured i'd go with the more established brand. that's not to say I wont go back to them. AAMI had pretty reasonable discounts for combining car, contents and house.

[AndyP]

I think budget direct is the one I got steered away from.

[Grunt]

I got a letter in the post today to switch to Buget Direct.

[AndyP]

I think budget direct is the one I got steered away from.

I just checked, and it was this company I got told to avoid. I was told by a former employee early last year, that they aren't good when it comes to paying claims.

[markTHEblake]

 I was told by a former employee early last year, that they aren't good when it comes to paying claims.

arent they all?

[AndyP]

I was told by a former employee early last year, that they aren't good when it comes to paying claims.

arent they all?

I haven't had any problems with NRMA. In fact, they were hassling me to get the repairs done, as I hadn't got around to it after several months.

The former employee left the company for ethical reasons. That was good enough for me not to sign up.
Has anyone here submitted a claim to Budget Direct/Insurer's Hotline? I'd be interested to hear how you went.

[BrisWesty]

I submitted a quote to Budget Direct for insuring my new car (Volvo). They wouldn't take me, because I had been honest enough to say during the discussion that some lowlife had broken into my last car (93 Commodore) and pinched some CDs and the player.
They wouldn't insure my Commodore because it didn't have an immobiliser, and now I was buying a car with an immobiliser, they wouldn't touch me because someone had broken into my old car that didn't have a immobiliser. The strange thing though, the lowlife didn't try to steal the Commodore, so the immobiliser was immaterial.

[amanda]

The whole car insurance market seems crazy!

We got the car back last week - but there were some problems - steering wheel wasn't on straight, were scratches all over the front bumper and there was a huge scratch on the side of the car!

More inconvenience to get it all fixed too