insurance

Insurance is a funny business.

We the consumer are always looking for the "cheapest" premiums and we are happy to change companies every year if we can save few dollars - and why not it's out money. The insurance companies, on he other hand, set their premiums based on what profitability they expect on their investments and returns for their shareholders.

So who wins the consumer or the insurance companies.?

I suspect the insurance companies will eventually win because at the end of the day we may think we are changing insurances but we in fact are probably staying with the same companies. Over recent years there have been many acquisitions of insurance companies leaving fewer companies owning more brands. The Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is the company behind the brands NRMA, RACV and CGU. And the company Suncorp Metway, on the other hand, is behind a number of the well known insurance brands including GIO, AMP GI, Vero etc.

So what does this mean for us the consumers?

I suspect only one thing - higher premiums. And following the recent storms that hit us during Christmas there is talk that we are definitely looking at higher premiums.The expectations are that next time you receive your renewal notice form the insurance company for your personal insurances they are likely to go up by between 5% and 10%.

This will be another opportunity for the consumer to shop around as not all brands will have the same increases.

I am an insurance agent for one of the brands AMP GI - so when you receive your next renewal notice, feel free to contact me for a quote.