Why you should check your car insurance every time you renew.

I've managed to become the go to person when people's insurance bills come up for renewal. Often people can save hundreds of dollars by shopping around. One thing I consider a trick used by insurance companies, is if you ask for a better price, they'll suggest increasing your excess to lower the price. They aren't offering any discount to you since you could have increased your excess anyway. The insurance company isn't reducing your price, just moving you to another option.

Three tips. One is if you take out a new policy with the same company online, you'll often get a discount. So don't renew. Take out a new policy to get a better price. The second is look at your excess. I've found for example if you increase your excess by say $150, the premium may drop by $50. In the first year you've saved $50 and each future year you'll save another $50. If you can afford the extra $100 if you have an accident, which isn't that much really, look at how much you can increase your excess before you feel the risk is too much. Finally, shop around. It's easy to do online and it could save you hundreds.

Here for example are the quotes for a Mazda CX5 I got last year for a person in their 80s. The policy was with Coles and the premium had increase considerably. The result was moving to AAMI with an excess of $1,300 for $1,074.74, with a saving of $765.16. Keep in mind these are last 2023 prices.

Coles renewal
$1,839.90, Excess $1000

Coles online with 15% online discount
$1,953.40, Excess $800
$1,818.23, Excess $1,000
$1,429.82, Excess $1600

Changed age to 84 instead of 85 to see how age affected the premium.
$1,853.49, Excess $850
$1,889.98, Excess $800

Woolworths
$3,233.73, unlimited kilometres
$2,392.53, 8000km
Agreed value $21,000
Excess $800

$1,854.58 excess $1,500
$1,650.12 excess $2,000

AAMI
Up to 10,000km
$1,284.72, $900 excess
$50 online discount
Amount covered $21,100

$1,323,82, $845 excess
$1,074.74, $1,300 excess

RACV
$2,380.10, $825 excess
$2,004.31, $1,500 excess 

GIO
$1,304.83, $950 excess
$1,021.56 $1,750 excess

Budget Direct
$1,448.68, Excess $800
50+ age 

$1,371.70 less than 8,000km
$1,450.89, $18,800 agreed market value

A final thought is that Coles or Woolworths offer either discount or points for car insurance. You really should check if the value of the offer exceeds the difference with their higher premium. In our case the supermarket offer was less than the savings that could be had by moving to another insurance company.

Kelvin

Update: 29/09/2024
This year's (2024) renewal information. This year the easiest and what we considered the best option was to simply renew and existing AAMI policy. Unlike previous years, taking out a new policy was a couple of hundred dollars more expensive.

AAMI
$1,114.20, renewal

New policy
Save $50 first year
Image of car looks like GIO site
5,000-10,000km
$1,349.58

GIO
Up to 10,000km/year
Covered $17,100 can cover $12,825 and $22,230
$1,372.09, excess $950
$1,254.31, excess $1,150
$1,074.21, excess $1,750 

 Coles
$50 off your shop
15% off first year's premium
Tow bar/Tinted windows
10,000km
50+ age restriction
Low mileage
$1,519.17, $900 excess, market value
$1,622.36, Agreed value $16,725, excess $900
$1,413.06, $1,300 excess, Agreed value $16,725