17 Apr Australian Car Insurance and how to best protect your assets

How to best protect your assets? Australian Car Insurance

How To Navigate The Australian car insurance Maze And Successfully Protect Your Assets

The maze of insurance companies, insurance broker sites and new online start-ups seems to be increasing daily, in the market for Australian Car Insurance. Each is offering to ‘protect’ our assets and ensure the lifestyles we work hard to achieve are protected from risk. When the cheapest car insurance companies are constantly offering up quotes for cheap car insurance – do you know what to look for?

Understanding why Australian car insurance premiums keep rising

Following very significant natural disasters in Australia, the scale of the Black Saturday Bushfires in 2009 and the Queensland Floods in 2011, insurances prices have increased for all Australians. The link was clearly demonstrated by the level of involvement from insurance companies in the Federal Government’s inquiry into The Costs and Impacts of Extreme Weather Events, a number of submissions dealt with the respective price increases in premiums.

Under the increased pricing pressures and focusing on those assets that we take to the road, including your personal car insurance, boat, truck, jet ski, caravan, bicycle and motor bikes insurances, right through to insuring your fleet of vehicles – we all have to weigh-up what’s at stake and what’s on offer.

 How to weigh-up price versus promise

While insurance is the purchase of a promise, we encourage you to make your decision with the end in mind. Should the worst occur, how will the insurer you select delivers on their promise? This approach should help you navigate away from making a purchase based on price and ensure that your needs are met by the policy and the insurer selected.

Take for instance the insurers who say their premiums are cheaper because they only offer online services. Have you considered how this applies when an accident has occurred and you may not be able to speak with someone to help answer your queries in a very stressful time. Don’t fall for an insurer who can sell, versus an insurer who is committed to being there for you when you need it most.

How the Australian car insurance industry is responding

With the increase in competition through increased premiums, we have seen an increase in the triggers insurance companies use to win our business. You may remember the AAMI Safe Driver app promotion, where drivers were encouraged to track their driving habits. Allowing the insurer to rate your performance as a driver, which in turn has an impact on the level of premiums you paid. While this may have been dismissed as a gimmick at the time, it may in fact have been a taste of what was to come.

The liberty mutual right track app available in the US was developed by the insurer and this auto insurance tracking device offers insurance discounts for those with the GPS tracking device fitted in their vehicle. It gives the insurer very large amounts of detailed data on their drivers, that they then factor into the insurance premiums paid on those vehicles and drivers.

Benefits of owning a wireless GPS tracking device

Here in Australia, we are yet to see an insurance company implement such a permanent solution or develop a physical tracker for a vehicle – but it doesn’t mean that you need to miss out on the benefits. Using a wireless GPS tracking device in your personal car, boat, truck, jet ski, caravan, bicycle, motor bike or commercial fleet of vehicles can positively impact your premiums.

Take for instance the example where your car is stolen. Using a wireless GPS tracking device can monitor and track your vehicle and allow authorities to recover it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Delivering a good outcome for you, your insurer and authorities. For those purchasing Australian car insurance, there are clear benefits in helping their insurer understand what it is they are insuring.

If you’re looking for ways to reduce your insurance premiums, consider fitting a GPS tracking device in your vehicle today. Are you ready to reap the benefits associated with owning your own wireless GPS tracking device ?