Am I stupid for not getting Full Comp Insurance?

[Kenshin X]

alright guys... give it to me...

just recently i was thinking of full comprehensive insurance. not only because that i'll be fully covered but from the fact that my mrs is almost on her p plates and is currently learning in my car.

so far i've spoken to 5 people and they all think i'm a nutcase for not getting full comp.

one person said "you're a nutcase"

one person said "you're not a car person"

one person said "you're crazy"

and a lot of other colourful things ;)

up until last sunday, i haven't really thought about full comp so seriously! ok... i always thought paying 361 for insurance was better than paying 1166... -_-

i thought i won't be going on full comp until i respray my car and get it all nice and perfect and shiny. but i figured that won't be in another (at least) 5 years.

thoughts (and flaming) are much appreciated guys! ;)

[eviltwin]

After seeing first hand how handy insurance is i say go comp piece of mind is great and if anything is to happen your sorted!

[akuma]

im with full comp insurance for my bike. 3rd party, fire and theft is about $350~ish, full comp is $2500 (im under 25yo). its really the head f#ck if you do get into an accident and you weren't at fault and the other person says it was.

Edited September 14, 2010 by akuma

[1stKill]

Yeah i agree with Evil go the full comp mate...if you ever right your car off or it gets hailed on or stolen (touch wood this never happens) $1166 is a swag cheaper than $15000 + all the blood,sweat & tears that have gone into your ride it seems only natural for peeps like us to go full comp.

i know exactly the battle going on in your head about this,i do this every year when it's due and i always cave in and go full comp...thank fark i had full comp this year. :D

[Tash]

+1 to Lee's reply - plus I guess think about even if you had an at fault accident and had to pay say $950 excess, that's a lot better than what might be a potential $2000-3000 repair or worse still, much more than that if the car was a write off.

I love the peace of mind full comp gives me, the Camry is around $96 a month (would be cheaper if I could have paid it all up front) with AAMI and its great, all my extras are covered, I have an agreed value that I'm happy with and anyone who drives my car is covered. I know a lot of people give the old line "I've never had anything happen" but its that little gremlin of what if; I know I certainly don't trust many of the other road users when it comes to my car not to mention what mother nature might do!

[DJKOR]

If you were to ask my opinion, I would say you would be crazy to not have full comprehensive insurance on a car that has some value to it. You just never know what might happen. For example, my last Sportivo was written-off with the accident having me at fault due to the circumstances. At the time I had written it off, it was insured for 2 years. Total cost of insurance over these two years was $1350. Considering that it payed off $30,000 in the end (after the $1000 deduction for excess), in my circumstance, I didn't loose a single cent as a result of the accident.

If you have a beater though, then fire and theft may probably be all you ever need, but it comes down to you at the end. Even with a car of value, if you personally think that you can manage to take on the risk, then you can go without comprehensive. I wouldn't say you are a <colourful language>, but to call you crazy would be acceptable.

[lateralus]

full comp is good, but make sure youre aware of your duty of disclosure.

having a few mods on the car, combined with your age, would be outside the underwriting guidelines for a lot of insurers. make sure you tell them everything.

working in motor insurance, i can honestly tell you that you would not be pleased to find out your written off car claim has been denied based on non-disclosure of car modifications

[Kenshin X]

Thanks for the quick replies peeps :) honestly im leaning towards a yes (pending boss' ok). I did a quick quote today and they valued my car as 15,500. I heard that if i say that i do not drive it much n have low kms, it will bring my value up. Is ths true?

[lateralus]

if you go for a market value policy, the assessor is the one that decides the vehicles true value and what is paid under the claim, so therfore low kms would work in your favour either way. however, assessors caluculate this on what an average person would pay for it, and doesn't take into account that the car is worth more in certain circles.

if you go for agreed value, you can choose the sum insured within reason (they have upper and lower values they allow), and is usually regardless of condition/kms (except where there is pre-existing or unrepaired damage). if the insurer agrees to the sum insured value on the policy, they are legally bound to pay it if you claim is accepted.

as for the usage of the car and distance travelled, that will not affect the sum insured, but rather your premium as it affects the risk of insuring you (ie. probability of you having to claim).

but dont tell the insurer you drive 250kms a week to get a lower premium, when in reality you might travel 600kms a week, because they will record your odometer reading. they will only found out once you make a claim, but they will most likely make you pay all the extra premium you owe them in leiu of the extra kms travelled.

hope this helps!

Edited September 15, 2010 by lateralus

[Kenshin X]

thanks dude, this does help! i just did a quote in my suburb and sunshine suburbs (not far from each other) i'm guessing i'm in a high risk area + main road so thats why its 100 dollars more expensive than the sunshine small road my parents live at.

should be ok though boss said "ok" but i'm still beating myself over whether i should do it or not haha,

cheers ;)

[johnnieboi]

you're crazy

just do it man. the way you baby and detail and keep your car so well managed and cleaned.. sif not go full comp.

I'm with Just Cars full comp with all mods covered, plus it raised my cover by 3k. Woot! AAMI doesnt cover some things like CAI. I dunno about other stuff, you'll have to ask Vinh.

[Andrew357]

Full comp is the way to go. Especially for a non-bomb type car.

Shannons is quite good and are cheaper than AAMI with the same listed mods + same agreed value.

[oodee]

The reason I have full comp insurance is because the car is still being paid off and I can't afford to pay it out if it's written off and I have to buy another car.

I'd have full comp on all cars that I own just out of principle.

[Kenshin X]

I am now crying man tears as I just paid my full comp insurance... lol..........................................

ahh i'll get over it in 5 mins

[private number]

You'll thank yourself later now that your on full comp bro! Nice info in this thread too!

Im on full comp aswell, with all modifications covered up to the value of 7k with ING direct

Full comp is the way to go. Especially for a non-bomb type car.

Shannons is quite good and are cheaper than AAMI with the same listed mods + same agreed value.

If your under..24 i think it is shannons wont cover you or even look at you.

[Noodle Boy]

don't risk not having comp insurance kenshin. your corolla is still worth a decent amount of money, therefore you wouldn't want to risk having to pay expensive fees to repair or even having to get rid of it. i think you can ring up the company you're insured with and have your policy converted to full comp if you want to. not sure if there's any extra fees, but i doubt it.

Edited September 17, 2010 by seifer

[JJCRU23R]

I gave up on comprehensive car insurance several years back. Not particularly proud of it and thank the heavens I havent had anything gone wrong with my car. However, now Im in a position where I can afford it, im looking at jumping back on the comprehensive bandwagon again.

The only thing I want to ask...

if your car has been written off and you plan on getting a similar/same model vehicle, can you take the mods off your car that are still good? (ie- car stereo, spoiler? can you take that stuff off if you wanted before they take your old car away??

[Noodle Boy]

that's possible, because my friend had his car written off(wasn't his fault) and he was able to pick some bits and pieces from his old car before they tow it to the wreckers.

[Rabbit]

As far as taking mods off a written off car, it varies by insurer, and sometimes assessor, check your PDS.

Technically as soon as the car is written off the wreck is owned by the insurance company, and it's up to them how they dispose of any or all of the wreck. I've had a good assessor before who let me take the stereo out of a car, but usually you would have to buy the entire wreck from the insurer, strip it, and then dispose of the rest yourself.

Shannons at least have a policy of offering first salvage to the owner, yet another reason they're so good, others have a default policy of only disposing of salvage through Fowles, or some other similar channel, and will not enter into discussions about selling to the previous owner as it's more paperwork for them. I expect the cheaper the insurer generally the less paperwork they'll be willing to do and the less likely you'll be able to buy the car directly. You can still always go along to the auction, and may get a bargain, or maybe not.

[rolla_guy]

Whether you go full comp or not, at a very minimum, you will want third party property damage insurance.

It's one thing to write off your own rolla. It's another to write off a Merc and have to pay for it out of your own pocket!

[lateralus]

ive worked for 3 insurers so far and all 3 have let customers keep the salvage of the car if they wanted to. but you have to pay for the salvage tender out of your total loss settlement, which is usually approx 20% of the vehicles market value.

paperwork isn't an issue with insurers, but moreso training because a lot of general claims consultants have no idea how to go about it. but anyway!

with regards to keeping mods, a lot of insurers are iffy about this because they agreed or market value they pay you includes all accessories/modifications fitted to the car. if you wanted to keep a few, they can either make you pay the value of them back to the insurer (Again, by taking this out of your total loss settlement), or make you replace it with an OEM unit.

Edited September 27, 2010 by lateralus

[VF-X]

Take it from me, who had an incident recently. It's worth gettin a comprehensive insurance.. Especially if u mod it. U just never know what sh*t u would go through.