Wattie wrote:long story short,
my dads mate had his 2 month old hardley flogged from his garage, (locked, electric door unplugged, bike alarm, chained down the lot)
in sured with qbe, they put PI's on him to see if he had troubles with his marriage etc, they couldnt find any evidence of it being stolen, after about 3 months, the rang him asking what colour bike he wanted as replacement.
Insurers dont randomly decide to investigate a claim. There are trigger points
used which determine if an investigation should go ahead; it dosent mean
that you will be interviewed, & more often than not its started & finished without
you even knowing there was one to begin with.
I'm
< not
> about to start advising what these trigger points are, but they are in place..
and they are there for not just the insurers benefit, but for their other customers
because everyones premium is affected by claims, same as each item price in a
retail outlet is to a certain degree affected by theft.
Each claim that an insurer pays out will affect someone else. Say your bike is a
total loss for example which means your insurer has to cough up $10,000; how
do you think they are going to recover that money again? Only way to do that is
increase premiums on other policies, because their not going to increase your
next renewal by $10k, so customers cop higher premiums so the insurer can
re-coup that money as it is our premiums that is used to pay other ppl's claims.
If they investigate you may be requested to sign a waiver that will allow them
access to anything they deem necessary such as your bank records, licensing &
telephone records to name a few. If you dont give them the authority then thats
sufficient grounds to have your claim denied.
I had a Private Agents license working as a bodyguard/private investigator for
close to 13yrs before the pigs took it off me for minimum 10yrs when I was sentenced
to jail time & I also did motor/home insurance for about 4yrs so I know insurance
very well
Wattie wrote:
not giving him choice to take money or different bike.
but when he was to pick up the bike, he had to sign a clause saying he is taking the bike un-insured, and he cannot insure with them at his address anymore.
so that is classed as being refused insurance, so would screw up your chances with all insurance companies.
You dont have the right to choose whether you take the money or get a
different bike; unless you are told differently in ya contract. Its the discretion
of your insurer to decide; however theres nothing stopping you from negotiating
with em. However this is not necessary if you had done ya homework.
Your situation is a prime example of where ppl go wrong..
Its only when shit hits the fan that ppl find out what they can & cant do,
what their covered for or not covered for. You should already know all
this before purchasing the product. Ask all the questions you need to ask
so that in the event of shit happening you will know where you stand etc
Its too late to be asking/crying etc when you've already had the incident.
Its why we're all given a booklet; its why we all have a 21 day cooling off
period if we change our minds. Mistake ppl make is that all they worry
about is the price of insurance but never look at the nitty grittys.
Cheaper does not always mean its better.. the same as in everyday life.
You can pay $1.50 for a can of pepsi or you can pay half as much for
a plain brand. Its the same colour as pepsi, but thats where the similarities
end. Same goes for insurance.
Say avg price of the Commodore you want is $30k. You'd seen countless
cars & all were in that price range. You then see an immaculate same car
& this one is only $10k. Whats ya reaction gonna be? Straight away youre
gonna be suss & question why its soo cheap. Ya not gonna immediately throw
$10k of ya hard earned money in their face. You'd be itching to have a good
look at the car; have it inspected, see if its stolen, see if it has money oweing
etc etc. Exactly the same as insurance.. but ppl dont look at insurance the same
way.. any Tom Dick & Harry will tell you the Number 1 factor is price. Thats the
one & only factor theyre interested in, & that could very well be their downfall
at a later date when its all too late.
In regards to pay-outs, once your insurer pays you out, your policy comes to an
end whether you are 1 week into it or near the end of your contract period, with
no refund; & there is no obligation for them to insure you again which is what I
presume happened to you..
Contrary to what you said, its not gonna screw ya chances of insuring elsewhere
either. Another insurer is not going to automatically deny you insurance simply
because you last insurer didnt want to insure you again after a claim. Its the
reason for refusing is what is important & not that you simply had insurance refused.
You have insurance refused because of fraud for eg, then you can forget about
getting any insurance for min 5yrs, but if you had insurance refused simply because
you had a paid-out claim is a diff matter. Thats nothing to worry about.
A reason they refuse to insure you again is because claims statistics show that once
a claim has been made, there is a higher chance of subsequent claims being lodged
& so they may view you as a customer whos going to cost em money instead of
making money off ya, then can you blame them for not wanting to insure you again?
Hell no. Imagine youre the insurer & one of your customers was costing you more
money in payouts than what you were collecting from them in premiums would you
want to keep em as a customer who loses you money, when you have shareholders
who expect maximum dividends for their investment in your company etc?
Your insurer is a business out to make money, not be a non-profit fuckin charity
organisation. Its only natural that a business endevours to maximise profits & reduce
liability (expenditure). I dont know.. some insurers may not want to insure you, but I bet
a hell of alot more will.. so its not a lost cause man. Too many insurers out there for this
not to be the case.
Having said that, you do have ya blue ribbon insurers who dont toss you to the scrape
heap after a payout

& do 'look after' their customers which means they do agree to
keep insuring you.. albeit at a higher premium & maybe higher excess
< edit >