Insurance Woes

Matt Camp · Post by **Matt Camp** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 4:27 pm

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good insurance company for an MX5?

I've just had my roof slashed (and repaired, Thanks Al!), and AMI are
being right bastards about it.

They're willing to pay (this time), but my excess is magically $750
(instead of the $250 they told me) simply because its a soft-top.

Al said that he thought this was a pretty damn high excess, given that I
haven't had a single claim in nearly 8 years, and nothing at all to do
with this car.

After fighting with management at AMI for a while I was told that $750
is about as low as they will ever give someone, and its normally over
$1000 (which mine will be now).

Needless to say that I'm pretty pissed off, and am now looking for
another insurance company...

Nina · Post by **Nina** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 4:47 pm

I'm with State and my excess went from $300 to $500 when I bought Das
Bitchmobile. This, they said, was because it was a soft top. $750 seems way
over the top. Note to self: Never try AMI

Nina

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You don't know
if it's fear or desire
Danger the drug
that takes you higher
Head in heaven
fingers in the mire

Mike Jolley · Post by **Mike Jolley** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:30 pm

check state,THEY WANTED 1,000 TOLD THEM NOT HAPPY THINK WE SETTLED ON $500
IF ROOF ,$200 FOR OTHER, MIKE

Wayne Sinclair · Post by **Wayne Sinclair** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:31 pm

NZI, $100.00 excess, but that's because insurance is cheaper the further
south you go - less crime and population I guess. Also we have all our
insurance with the same company including business, but as I said the main
factor is 'crime' factor. Just ask any of the major companies.

Regards
Wayne Sinclair
Invercargill
0274 318171

johnw11 · Post by **johnw11** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:38 pm

Matt

I am with State and have a $500 excess. It was reduced from $1000 when I had
the immobiliser and Microwave alarm fitted.

John

John · Post by **John** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:40 pm

Sorry to hear about your roof being slashed, where did it happen??

I got my insurance through the ASB bank, and they were very competitive. I
think my excess is about $300.

Also Lumley Insurance are pretty cheap and I think they have the contract
for the Police so they can't be all bad, or maybe...

Mike Jolley · Post by **Mike Jolley** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:42 pm

LIVING IN INVERCARGILLE WITH TIM SHADBOLT SHOULD PAY YOU, WESTIE MIKE

Wayne Sinclair · Post by **Wayne Sinclair** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:04 pm

At least I can spell Invercargill and Auckland, and just who is your mayor by
the way?

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:04 pm

I'm with AMI here in Blenheim. My excess is $250.00, the same as my other
vehicles. No mention of anything to do with the soft top. I queried them
about that and they assured me it would be covered under their normal terms.
As Wayne said, it does depend on where you live.

Grant in Blenheim where summer has finally arrived!

Badcat · Post by **Badcat** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:07 pm

I see you've also mastered engaging and disengaging the caps lock also.
Excellent.

On 13/01/2005, at 6:04 PM, Wayne Sinclair wrote:

[...]

EricW · Post by **EricW** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:08 pm

We have been insured with AA for many years, but I thought it was worth a
call to check this.

My excess is $300 and would not change if the soft top was damaged, but they
did require me to fit an alarm and immobiliser before they would insure me,
which seemed like a good idea anyway.

I have always found them very good to deal with

Regards

Eric

Mike Jolley · Post by **Mike Jolley** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:11 pm

bob THE dog IS MAYOR BRING BACK TIM
LIVING DOWN THERE YOU PROBALY HAVE A RED(SORRY PINK) OR BRG MX5, GO THE
MAINLAND
JEALOUS JAFA, MIKE

Matt Camp · Post by **Matt Camp** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:13 pm

I've heard that state has reasonable prices, but from talking to Al
today, he said State are second worst in his opinion when it comes to
actually getting money out of...

ASB are worst, because they're underwritten by State so its just state
with an extra layer of bullshit to fight through.

John White wrote:

[...]

Matt Camp · Post by **Matt Camp** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:15 pm

Parked in the driveway of the place where I'm living in Remuera.

Apparently the AMI assessor was trying to say that I might have slashed
it myself... Al managed to convince him that I probably hadn't slashed
my own 2-month old $1500 roof just so that I could come back and pay AMI
a heap of money to have it replaced. (it was a nice robbins one with
glass window)

John wrote:

[...]

Tim Chu · Post by **Tim Chu** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:42 pm

I'm also in Auckland and with State. Got my insurance a few months ago, and
my excess is at $300 (except in the case of theft where it is $1000) and
I've also got an immobiliser alarm fitted to my MX5.

"TIMMAY" - 98 RS

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:25 pm

AMI Excess for "malicious damage is $750, normal car
accident type excess $250, if a thief broke a window
to gain access thats ok and is a $500 excess, but if
they slash the roof to gain entry they count it as a
malicious act of vandalism and bang on another $250.
Moral of the story is... put your hardtop on if your
parking avywhere dodgy, much easier to replace a window than a top!!!
By the way... DONT TRUST STATE INSURANCE WITH A BARGE
POLL. I had a year long court battle with them with
them threatening me all kinds of nasty things,They
even denied that a member of thier staff even worked
at the particular branch!!!(The accident wasnt
even my fault!) i finally caught them out on a clause
of thier contract and counter sue'd for gross breach
of contract and misleading behavoiur resulting in
fraud...They backed down and payed me my money!!!
Im now with AMI, lets face it insurance companies are
not what youd call overly blessed with ethics and
morals no matter which one it is.

johnw11 · Post by **johnw11** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 7:53 pm

I have to declare an interest as I have done some IT contracting work for
State.

1) I had a claim on my household claim, also State, where I dropped my
Notebook and smashed the screen. New screen authorised in 1 day, actual
replacement 5 days as the HP dealer needed to order the new screen from
Auckland. So great service.

2) On SH1 coming into Wellington, well wife was driving actually, and a
piece of wood comes off a lorry and goes through the windscreen like a
spear. Police got the car towed off the motorway. This was at 1pm. State had
authorised all repairs by 4pm and all work done by end of next day.
Fantastic service as my wife was really shook up, by the end of the
afternoon she was totally relaxed and realy happy at the service she
received.

3) ASB is underwritten by State. All sales processing is by ASB staff,
unless it falls outside their terms and is referred. For claims you deal
direct with the State claims call centre, even though they answer your phone
as "ASB Claims". So no extra layer to go through, even though it maybe
appear that way. When I took out the policy on the MX5 they were very clear
that theft, or damage to the hood, would involve a $1000 excess until it was
fitted with a suitable alarm and immobiliser. There are quite a few other
"companies" that sell insurance who are underwritten by State, but that is
not information I want to reveal, although of course it is not hidden from
people who actually have the policy as it is stated on the policy. To be
precise though, ASB, and these others, are not actually underwritten by
State, but by IAG, just that State is the largest brand owned by IAG.

As part of the work I was doing I spent quite a few days sat in the call
centre, main claims call centre is Christchurch, and listened on a
supervisor phone to calls being received. I too had this opinion that State
offered a bad service before I did this work for them. Well listening into
those calls and the way they were handled totally changed my perception, and
the way my two claims have been handled have totally professionally, I doubt
I could have got the work done quicker if I was paying myself.

Glad your experience with AMI has been so good though.

)

Regards

John

michele · Post by **michele** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:15 pm

Im with NZI and without looking I think it is 300.
Michele

Wayne Sinclair · Post by **Wayne Sinclair** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:00 pm

Non of the above colours...

poison · Post by **poison** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 11:42 pm

Mike J

Could you please STOP SHOUTING in all your emails

Cheers

Gazza
"PO1SON"

Alex Root-Reed · Post by **Alex Root-Reed** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 2:07 am

Hi all,

I have a bronker who takes care of all my insurance woes. House, businness,
fiancee, dog - the works.

I think for the car its a $200 excess and premium is $250 +/-- He never
mentioned anything about the roof being one I could put up in the rain. But
rest asured, its on my list of calls for tommorrow. I'll let you know the
outcome.

BTW, I'm guessing this "oh, as its the roof, that costs more" sort of
attitude is AKA "small print". Am I wrong?

Cheers all. (It looks like good weather this weekend. We're hitting New
Plymouth. Any other plans rolling?)

Ian Chapman · Post by **Ian Chapman** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 8:48 am

We are with AMI, live in Whitby (north of Wellington). $500 excess
except for malicious damage and softop at $750, glass free. I might
talk to them about excess when we move into the city and review our
insurance as it appears there are different excesses even within AMI and
certainly with different companies - may be purely location and city vs
town related.

Ian

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Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 09:24:55 +1300
From: ~Jeff~ <jifjif@gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: Forgive me ...
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Don't feel guilty, my bruvva - don't forget it was originally designed
as a **Light Weight Sports** car! No mention of softtops there - and
if it was meant to be down all the time they would've copied an MG (or
similar) ragtop.

Jeff
hard-core hard topper

PS - we always take one of the other cars or pay for parking if we're
going in to town. Been slashed once, that was enough!

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 21:07:45 +1300, Ian Beardslee <mx5@falcons.co.nz> wrote:
[...]

Biff · Post by **Biff** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:57 am

I have mine insured through Westpac, and believe it or not they were the
cheapest.
I put the package together, car bike, home and contents and offered it to
about four companies, Westpac were $103.00/year dearer than the cheapest
(State) so I went back to them. They dropped $68.00/year and gave me lower
excess across the board than anyone else, and then turned around and gave me
my first month's premiums free on the entire package.
Not bad, they have a 24x7 0800 number, and offer some free travel insurance
(can't remember the exact details).
Maybe give them a go.
I was previously insured with AMI as well, didn't have any problems with
them; I was just looking for a cheaper option across the board.
Someone did an insurance spread-sheet some time ago I think.
Cheers
Biff

Matt Camp · Post by **Matt Camp** » Fri Jan 14, 2005 12:11 pm

Thanks everyone for some really valuable comments.

After calling a few places, I have decided to go with NZI.

They offered me a slightly more expensive annual premium (about $100
over AMI), however their excess is only $300 and they confirmed there is
NO extra charge for damage to the soft-top.

I also moved my contents insurance which actually came in cheaper than
AMI, so all up I'm paying roughly the same in premiums, but saving a
crapload on the excess.

AA unfortunately wouldn't touch me as I do not have a lockable garage to
park it in.

On a related note, I'm looking to have my existing alarm enhanced so
that it makes some kind of noise if people get too close... can anyone
recommend a good alarm installation place in Auckland?

Biff wrote:

[...]

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