The cost of House Insurance

[buggerlugs]

http://www.couriermail.com.au/busine...=1417155296570
I don't know about the southern states but in the last few years, House Insurance has gone thru the roof. The link I posted from yesterdays storm won't help either. We are using brokers and they are now having trouble finding anything under $2000.00 . We have a house in Blacks Beach in North Qld and it's worse and there are only 2 companies that will now insure up that way. Is it only Qld or is it across the board ?

[LG17]

I pay just over a grand house and contents with RACQ!
Fully covered.

[buggerlugs]

Originally Posted by LG17

I pay just over a grand house and contents with RACQ!
Fully covered.

Maybe it is our coastal location ? RACQ were the cheapest but they are $1940.00.........................

[LG17]

Are you floodable? We're about 500m above sea level and also well above any creeks and rivers out here even though we still have coverage for it. I've also got 3 cars atm with them and have been a member for what seems like a hundred years (probably about 40!).

[buggerlugs]

No, we are high up. If we flood, most of the coast will be about 10 meters under !!

[LG17]

Just realised - is Blacks Beach the insurance you are talking about?

If it is I can understand the premium because Mackay is a big claims area.

[nuthin' fancy]

You have to shop around as hard as you can. I leave near the top of a hill in suburban Geelong. When CBA wanted an additional 20% the year after the Brisbane floods I told CBA I would give them 5% additional. They said no so I shopped around until GIO came to party at 5% higher with the same excess and claims limitation.

If you are in an area of increased claims you will find it harder.

[Jastel]

Anywhere North of the Tropic of Capricorn has been getting reamed for the last few years since Cyclone Yasi, like you said no competition, and gutless govts letting insurance companies do what they like.

BNE gets several hailstorms a year, massive 2011 floods and get SFA rises, the north gets one minor cyclone and rises of 2000% are happening. It is especially difficult for strata titled and body corporate insurance up here.

They just base it on postcode, no, we don't insure there. The couple that do use outdated flood maps and proclaim the whole city floods and justify that to jack up premiums.

Many people have dropped insurance or put in large excesses to be able to afford it. Houses in the north are generally built to higher standards because of cyclones so what happened in BNE the other day would cause little damage here.

Southern govts just don't care.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

http://www.couriermail.com.au/busine...=1417155296570
I don't know about the southern states but in the last few years, House Insurance has gone thru the roof. The link I posted from yesterdays storm won't help either. We are using brokers and they are now having trouble finding anything under $2000.00 . We have a house in Blacks Beach in North Qld and it's worse and there are only 2 companies that will now insure up that way. Is it only Qld or is it across the board ?

Must be lot of claims in your area for insurance to be high, as mentioned by other search for the best deal possible.

Best of luck.

[deesun]

I just saved $700 on mine with Budget. I had some items Coles was reluctant to insure so bumped up premium though seemed right last year until I rang Budget this year and it was goodbye Coles.

[lilmattie]

House insurance for me has almost doubled per year for house and contents. Used to be just over 1k, now it's up near 2k.

This has been primarily since 2011 floods. My house has never been flooded and isn't even in flood zone area. I'm up on a hill. Insurance companies are gutting us to make back the claims for all the natural disasters for the past few years.

But what do you do..? The time you're not insured is the time that something will happen.

[2011G6E]

If insurance companies would go by where you are rather than just "postcode" things would be better.

The postcode I am in...4702...is massive. It stretches from out here at Bluff right down to Rocky, wraps around the city and heads out towards Yeppoon. It's got numerous towns in it of all sizes.
The trick is, when insurance quotes are made, the simply ask for your postcode, and don't take into account where you are exactly. Our house down at Gracemere (160km away) is also in 4702 postcode area, but it's lumped in with places that flooded heavily in the floods a couple of years back. One insurance company wouldn't even cover a house in that postcode, despite there being literally no possibility of flood waters ever reaching our place. The whole of Rockhampton would have to be underwater before it reached our high position 10km away.

Then there's the scam of what they technically mean by "flood water"...is it water that falls from the sky, or is it water that backs up from drains, was it caused directly by a storm or was it water flowing there from a storm nearby, etc?
They should be made to simply say "covered for damage caused by water"...full stop, no qualifiers, no excuses.

If insurance company investors whinge, they should just realise the industry they are involved with is one huge gamble. They could go decades without a big payout, but one day they might get several in a row. That's life...that's the realism of the industry you're involved with, live with it.