AAMI / Suncorp Insurance - A recent terrible experience...

[SteveAndBelle]

Just thought I'd share my recent terrible experience with AAMI in the hope this may sway people away from them and their underwriters 'Suncorp'...

8+ weeks ago

- We were the 100% innocent victim of a hit & run, our 2010 Corolla Levin ZR parked on the side of a road and hit hard by a drunk driver along with other cars further up the street. BIG damage to the rear drivers side wheel and all surrounding panels but even though there were obvious signs of wheel toe-in the car still drove pretty nicely (it's IS a Toyota afterall ;)) See attached pics...

- Police called out, report created, all went very well, smooth & professionally. Police said the car is "safe to drive as long as nothing falls off" and instructed me to hand his card with report number over to other Police if I was pulled over while driving.

- Luckily the offenders Rego was reported to Police by a witness from one of the houses on the street. Without that we'd be screwed!

- Claim lodged with AAMI within about an hour of the incident but I refused to pay the excess as I was absolutely not at fault. They said they needed the rego number to allow that to go through but I didn't have it so I told them I'd call the police and call them back the next day.

- Called the Police but they couldn't give me the rego because of 'privacy issues'. Wow, what a world! Bounced to & fro the Police & AAMI a further 3-4 times each and no-one wanted to budge. The Police told me AAMI were simply "being lazy" as all they had to do was call them, quote the case number and they would be given the rego details but AAMI told me that would take a very, very long time. I still had a drivable car so I called their bluff and said no problem, I can wait.

5 weeks ago

- Over three weeks go by and we hear nothing at all. This was our first ever claim so I just assumed this was normal ie. pay for top premiums for 25+ years and get treated like crap.

- Called AAMI to find out what was going on and was told that a note had been added to our claim that we "no longer wanted to have the car repaired" WTF!?

- Gave them absolute hell and demanded they tell us who added that note as that was absolutely not the case but of course 'privacy issues' came into play again. Pfft

- Managed to yell & scream enough to get them to arrange a day to get two quotes within the following week.

- Went to the two AAMI recommended Panel Beaters and got them to supply quotes but queried how a Panel Beater could know enough about the mechanical side of things to quote the full repair accurately and was told that was up to the insurer to sort out.

- Both quotes made it to AAMI (approx. $9-10k worth of repairs required) and the car was taken in to the AAMI/Suncorp RepairLink assessment centre a few days later. I was hoping it would be written off as I knew it wouldn't be the same car after the repairs but it was deemed repairable so I couldn't argue with that.

- The RepairLink assessor made a big song & dance about how dangerous it was for us to be driving the damaged car for so long. I informed him that it was AAMI's doing because they had screwed up the claim adding the absolutely fictitious note about us not wanting to go ahead with the repair. He obviously didn't care and called me a taxi as he deemed it unsafe. He told me they would transport the car to the repairers from that point on. Fair enough... but this is the info I feel we should've had within a few days of lodging the claim, not four weeks later!

- I was instructed the repair would take 3-4 weeks but to keep an eye on the completion date on the AAMI website. It was set to the 19th June so I borrowed a car (friggin' uncomfortable Ute that cost a fortune in fuel) and waited patiently for a call from either AAMI or the repairer.

- 3 weeks passed and no call however the completion date was changed from the 19th June to 3rd of July so we struggled through driving the uncomfortable, fuel guzzling loan Ute and put our faith in the fact that the repairers needed more time. No point getting angry about something completely out of our control.

2 days ago

- 1st of July swings around and as we hadn't heard anything we thought we'd better just call AAMI to confirm the car will be ready to go.

- AAMI informed us the assessor was still waiting on something... but noted that was lodged on the 19th June (or earlier) so they decided to try to call him to confirm.

- Couldn't reach him so they called the repairers. The panel beaters told AAMI that some initial suspension work had been done however they had heard that further damage had been discovered and they had been waiting for the assessor to update them. The panel beaters had ordered & taken delivery of $8000 worth of parts but were just waiting to be given the green light. No other repairs had been started... five-and-a-half-weeks after the car had been taken in for repair! What... the... F*ck?!

- Absolutley furious, I began my now famous tirade and Tsunami of very nasty profanities as per any unacceptable situation like giving way more than enough opportunity for the right thing to be done. I then demanded I speak with the assessor. I didn't care if they needed to drag them away from a conjugal visit, this was completely and utterly unacceptable.

- Recording the AAMI phone call while they frantically tried to contact him I demanded they provide me with his mobile number so I could also call but of course 'Privacy Issues' reared their ugly head yet again. They told me he must've been on the road... what, a car insurance assessor doesn't have a hands-free kit? C'mon!

- I continued to demand his number while screaming expletives down the phone and surprise, surprise they succumb and gave it to me! Privacy? What privacy?!

- We then both continued to call for another 15 minutes when he suddenly answered. I introduced myself, stated the car type, colour & rego then asked if I could get a status update. He answered like a true smart-***** saying "mate, I look at dozens of cars every day, I have no idea what you're talking about" which of course instantly triggered another session of high volume expletives.

- He went on defending his entire existence and continually blamed Toyota for not getting back to him with the repair requirements for the newly discovered damage.

- The call ended with me taking control (that's right, me... the customer!) and demanding he calls me back by COB with a rock solid completion date. I'm not sure why I was still willing to give him a chance but that's just the kinda guy I am ;) I got everyones agreement of that and ended the call.

- I can only assume AAMI and the Panel Beaters had ripped him a new one because less than 2 hours later I had a call from a very sheepish assessor admitting fault that he hadn't communicated any of this properly. By that stage I had calmed right down to my usual uber-passive self and found no need to attack him when he was obviously trying his best to deal with the consequences. He then informed me that he had decided to write the car off. Halle-friggin-lujah!

So, after over EIGHT WEEKS of screwing around containing probably only around a few hours of actual work on the car it's now been written off. Fark me! This could've been assessed and decided within days of the incident. The silver lining to the 8 week 'acid rain' producing dark cloud is that they will be paying out the agreed value which is more than enough to buy a very decent replacement... not new but close enough to it. Less than 18 hours after receiving confirmation of the write off I've already bought a replacement car (see my Avatar), a sassy red 2013 ZRE182R with only 12k on the clock and all the trimmings including Leather Seats etc. and I've gotta say it's a MUCH nicer car than our original ZRE152 but we shouldn't have had to go through hell & back to get to this point.

Fairly obviously we have already cancelled our other insurance policys with anyone connected to AAMI and Suncorp because of this. There aren't many others around who aren't underwritten by these guys and we know all insurers are probably the same BUT why bother spending top dollar on so-called 'Premium' insurance policies when we can spend a lot less and be treated the same way anyway?!

To those of you with a AAMI policy I recommend you at least consider looking at your alternatives. It seems I'm not the only one who has issues with them too, check out this nice little site I found: http://www.servicerage.com/car-and-home-insurance Good going AAMI! So many satisfied customers ;)

[trentmeyer23]

I think you would be surprised who Suncorp actually owns and underwrites. There are very few insurance companies left once you rule them out.

It would appear that most of this problem was actually caused by an incompetent assessor.

[SteveAndBelle]

Oh yeah, I know! Basically all insurers lead back to AAMI or Suncorp. Budget Direct are underwritten by Auto & General Insurance Limited plus there are a few others who are independent of the AAMI/Suncorp beast so we've gone with them instead because now we know a 100% not-at-fault claim will end up like this with a 'Premium' insurer then we may as well save some cash and just go with a smaller insurer and expect the same service. Can't get a lot worse!

Yep, the assessor needs to be sacked and never re-employed in a customer service role as he was beyond hopeless (feel free to PM me for his name!) however the fact that a magical fairy decided to add the note to our claim about us not wanting to go ahead with the repairs is really where it all began. That gobbled up over 3 weeks alone!

[trentmeyer23]

Always hound them, never sit back and wait, because they don't want to part with their money.

[SteveAndBelle]

Always hound them, never sit back and wait, because they don't want to part with their money.

Yeah, we know that now ;) If I worked the way these guy work I doubt I'd be able to hold onto a job for more than a few days! What gives them to right to be slakkers :(

[jeffy]

read half, TL:DR the rest. (will read the rest later)

yeahhh AAMi is a bit hard to work with ever since they combined with that repairlink bullcrap, most aami people that ive spoken with, arent really that helpful, i wish they'd look after their customers more than their $$$