Shifty Insurance ?

[Birds]

Its not the insurers responsibility to make sure your car is street legal, however if you listed mods and the accident is not your fault or the mods are not responsible for the accident you will be fine.

This is correct. It's just like insuring a turbocharged car on your P plates in Victoria. A company will insure you, they will pay you out if someone hits you, they will chase up payment from a third party for you...but if the accident was your fault and you're driving a car you weren't supposed to be...welcome to the possibility of claim denied, population: you. It is entirely up to you to make sure you are driving your car legally.

They aren't the devils people are making them out to be. They don't go over your car with a fine tooth comb sniffing out every possible excuse to get out of a claim. Insurance companies do look for obvious loopholes to get out of or reduce their payment - give them nothing easy to catch you out on and they will just pay you out. You can always challenge their decision in court, so keep in mind that they are going to want reasonable grounds on which to deny your claim (or grounds that are met in the PDS)...if they don't have this then they will go to court over it and lose. A magistrate is not going to rule in favour of them because they are claiming you had a boost controller and the accident was a result of your running a red light or not giving way. People wouldn't bother with full comp if no one ever got paid, but they do and they do.

[stig mick]

While I still use just car I have a horror story that might make you think twice about using them,

I had an at fault single car accident in my mechanically stock r33 all it had wast a full exhaust and an fmic,

I smashed the front bar to pieces and the intercooler piping was destroyed and the drivers side front guard was munted,

They took my car to their approved repairer it took the 1 month to repair the car, when I went to pickup the car the second I turned the key I heard a really weird squealing noise the repairer said it was probably a boost leak so on the spot he changed a vaccumme line, the noise was still there, he said take the car back and ring me if I have any problems- there was my first mistake

So as soon as the car warmed up and I drive it hard I noticed the car felt nothing like it did before so I rang them back and said there was sonerhing wrong, I also noticed quite alot of rubber on the rear pods the tires were basically new and I had never done a single burn out in the car

Anyway so I rang JC and they said take it back to the repairer to check it he looked over it and said the turbo was blown but JC wouldn't cover it

So I told them I wanted a second opinion I let them take it to another repairer cause if I'd raken it to my own mechanic it wouldn't be covered, the repairer took the turbo out and said the front blade was damaged but there was no sign of impact damage at this point I had drive the car for 4 weeks and the noise sounded like a siren and there was no power when the boost came on, the repairer said JC refused to pay for it so my only choice was to get the turbo high flowed through GCG for $2500 including installation because the turbo was now in prices and could not be refitted so I could drive the car to my mechanic for him to repair , I decided to go with hypergear instead as it was only $1200

I had the turbo installed and then took JC to the financial ombudsman but after 8-9 months of backwards and forwards all I got was $300 cause I couldn't prove without a doubt that the damage came from the accident and justcar should have replaced the turbo with a second hand working unit after they tested it cause my car was undrivable after the turbo was taken out to check,

In saying that their price is very reasonable so I keep using them

[TerminalWraith]

Marlin, my comment is.100% fact.

Dani boi, whats the point of insurance? Same as having an illegally modded car what is the point if you cant drive it?

Fact is you CAN have illegal mods if they dont cause an accident so you are covered for other ftards and theft.

[TerminalWraith]

Birds is totally off relating to a magistrate, I have never heard of an insurer going to court post ombudsman. If before court rejects it until they go through ombudsman.

[w34ponGT]

Fact is you CAN have illegal mods if they dont cause an accident so you are covered for other ftards and theft.

yep thats whats JC and shannons have said clearly. shannons have agreed to 62k for a 99 vspec which is excellent but 3200 for a 21 year old

[nathanau]

I only joined Shannons about 4 weeks ago.... 3 days after joining and during high wind storms while driving, a small Tree flew out across the road into my R34GTT caused slight damage to the bonnet and front bar....and as the car bounced over bits of the tree/branches, scratches were left in the skirts..... I lodged a claim and only having the policy for three days they were a lil suss....

I was previously insured with another insurer and gave them a cert of currency showing i was fully insured prior, so i wouldnt need to change insurers if i had pre existing damage just to make a claim.... They were happy with that, then 6 days later a Drunk Driver Ran up the Ass of my 34... so i lodged another claim ( making me look pretty bad)

What will be interesting is ( why they keep me as a client ) but seriously.....the scratches on the skirts could be argued as ware and tear maybe?? , the front bar has a 'dent' down to the fiberglass (small) which could be argued along same lines i guess and the bonnet also was left with small dents and there is some very slight like scuffing on the paint of the bonnet.

The small dents perhaps could be removed by paintless dent removal leaving the scuffing ( which is sooooo slight but i know its there, probably no one else would see that unless they really looked for it and knew the car aswell as i do after so many washes and polishes...) so will they go with the cheaper option of paintless dent leaving the scuffs or have the thing properly re-sprayed and repaired?

One of the guys doing one of the repair quotes said that Shannons have a reputation of not cutting corners and that it would be his guess they will do the bonnet correctly... I wonder how ALLL this is going to be assessed ( personally im fanatical about my car, it GLEEMS with shine and good care, no marks, no anythings prior, this car was as showroom condition) the drunk driver damage should be ok as he was arrested no argument.

This is the first claim ive had in 5 years of full comprehensive insurance and no claims prior as at fault , it is going to be interesting to see how Shannons assess the tree damage, as it is slight. The car was quoted all up today by two repairers (my choice of repairers which is great) They both came in around 2.5k ( fortotal damage front and back and skirts)

Im gauging the process now to see how Shannons handle things but i do hear so many horror stories about insurance companies i dont know what to expect as the repair day gets closer....

So far Shannons have been nice, ringing to see how quotes are going, asking what they can do to help. The assessor rang me to ask what repairer i wish to use ( Ive not decided) so he asked me to choose and call him back. ( not sure why he wanted to know that ) i guess shall see how it goes...

Edited August 16, 2011 by nathanau

[GTR-N1]

Have you guys ascertained how many insurance companies Suncorp-Metway owns?

Of the Promina group, Suncorp owns APIA, AAMI, Just Car, Insuremyride, Vero, Asteron, Tyndall and wait for it; Shannons.

As Richard said, Shannons are 'firm but fair' in legalistic insurance terms; because I can see the day coming when a new policy may be subject to sending in >6 pics of your car to ratify it.

I can remember when in 2003, I bought a R33 GT-R and before Just Car would give me a policy, they forced me to drive my 'new' wheels from Sylvania to Seven Hills (before Norwest) to have the car visually inspected. They would not issue a Cover Note for my trip across the suburbs.

And the spin-off is that they've been dragged kicking to the table where there's more competition > and now Suncorp is the 'big fish' gobbling up smaller ones.

[TerminalWraith]

Not really. JC and Shannons have been owned by AAMI for ages and Suncorp bought their group 5 years ago. IAG are still the biggest group in Oz but not many of their brands will insure our cars.

[nathanau]

Have you guys ascertained how many insurance companies Suncorp-Metway owns?

Of the Promina group, Suncorp owns APIA, AAMI, Just Car, Insuremyride, Vero, Asteron, Tyndall and wait for it; Shannons.

As Richard said, Shannons are 'firm but fair' in legalistic insurance terms; because I can see the day coming when a new policy may be subject to sending in >6 pics of your car to ratify it.

I can remember when in 2003, I bought a R33 GT-R and before Just Car would give me a policy, they forced me to drive my 'new' wheels from Sylvania to Seven Hills (before Norwest) to have the car visually inspected. They would not issue a Cover Note for my trip across the suburbs.

And the spin-off is that they've been dragged kicking to the table where there's more competition > and now Suncorp is the 'big fish' gobbling up smaller ones.

Thats what i figured, something kept going through my head that Sun Corp own Shannons and yup, Suncorp is a of a worry however, i think each insurer is run by its own admin, thus it can be i lil different in terms of how your insurer responds to you in each company. Suncorp look at the bottom line for each, but day to day running is on the merit of each provider. As a Note when i took out my policy with Shannons i asked for a email whereby i could email a bunch of photos of my car, in fact , i insisted so as to be very clear what we are insuring, the guy who insured my car from Shannons equally insisted it was not needed.... I wish now that he didnt do that.

[w34ponGT]

shannons requested a driving history and i told them i had a suspension.. they said yeh no worries as long as thats all. i faxed the records over then.. "nahh were not going to risk insuring you" wtf what a waste of time that was. useless

[Ziller]

Yeah that's right. But if the accident is your fault then what's the point of having full comp if there going to look for excuses to not pay out.

I agree for this reason, I have used both Justcars and Shannons over the years for my car and have listed every mod it has on request, Turbo's, ECU etc (remember they are the experts in these matters), I asked them both in detail is there any clause or reason or catch apart from drink driving, drug use etc that would comprormise my full Comp insurance regarding the mods on my car and they said no.

It would have been nice if they took the opitunity to tell me other wise considering I was probing them for answers.

[Birds]

Birds is totally off relating to a magistrate, I have never heard of an insurer going to court post ombudsman. If before court rejects it until they go through ombudsman.

Ombudsman doesn't always work in favour of the customer. I didn't know the facts of the world were limited to your experience...because my own brother went to court with an insurance company over it.

[lanky71]

sorry I skipped through this thread, all my cars bar the Navara are with just car and I was under the belief that if the modifications are not legal then they simply replace them with standard legal parts not the aftermarket parts?

EG: Carbon bonnet would be replaced with factory bonnet.

[TerminalWraith]

What a generic response with a fountain of experience. Everyone knows someone. The ombudsman ruling is made in favour of the correct party, which isn't always either party. I say I haven't heard of it in my years of working industry experience but yes I should 'cede to the forum trivia troll.

Ianky - it depends and has been explained before

WeaponGT - the guy on the phone can be overturned by their underwriters who approve new policies written

[evil_weevil]

exactly - there may have been more info in the DHR than you originally disclosed - which means for certain age groups they'd then decline cover based on the new info provided.