The NRMA’s hefty insurance increases

Last week I had a nasty shock. When I opened up an email from NRMA Insurance, the quote for my new car insurance premium had a 3 in front of it. In fact, the cost of insuring my 2019 Kia Picanto, which is worth about as much as a Taylor Swift ticket, had gone up 17 per cent to $3440. How did that happen?

I know car insurance is expensive, especially when the policy covers a 21-year-old male driver. The tiny Kia was purchased in the mistaken belief that my son would not be seen dead in it. But if the cost of having a car keeps going up, I’d have to seriously consider getting rid of it and buying an e-bike. We live in the inner city, and after you add on petrol, tolls, servicing and parking, riding a bike and catching Ubers and taxis would be much cheaper.

The price rise hurt because I’d been a “loyal” NRMA customer for 22 years. Actually, I’d just been lazy. Unwilling to spend hours on the phone shopping around, I’d taken the easy way and just pressed “renew” each year. But now, enraged, I tapped my details into a few comparison websites to shop around.

This was the first hurdle. Unlike the sites for comparing energy, banking or telco prices, the car insurance websites don’t include the major brands. As consumer advocate Joel Gibson explained to me, that’s because they choose not to participate.

The home and car insurance market is very tightly held. The two largest companies, IAG and Suncorp, control about two-thirds of the market. Add in QBE and Allianz and the top four control well over 80 per cent. I should be able to plug in my details into one site and receive a range of quotes, but the Big Four won’t be part of it.

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This increases their retention rates. Who has the time and the inclination to ring several companies and hang endlessly on the phone? Gibson told me that home and car insurance premiums are rising at an average of 16 per cent, which is the fastest rate of increase in 22 years. He has compared this with corporate earnings; at Suncorp (which owns AAMI, GIO and Apia), IAG (which owns NRMA, CGU, RACV and SGIO) and QBE, corporate profits are all up. In fact, IAG made a net profit of $832 million last year, up 140 per cent.

Gibson, the author of a money-saving book called Kill Bills, said insurance companies needed to be called out over “price walking”, the practice of charging older, loyal customers more each year without a major change in their cover, which results in them paying as much as 34 per cent more than new customers. The UK banned this in 2022.

I rang one of NRMA’s competitors, completed its questionnaire online and received a quote back for $1583. Then I called NRMA to see if it would match it. After talking me through the facts on young men and driving, the sales consultant declined to lower the quote but did offer me a $100 Woolworths gift card to stay. $100, after 22 years? Mate, if I was after that level of “loyalty”, I’d buy a cat.