Archive for category Insurance Companies
Top Three Insurance Companies In Australia
Posted by in Insurance Companies on January 3, 2012
Choosing the right insurance company for your needs and lifestyle will be one of the most important decisions you will make as an adult. Insurance is protection against unforeseen situations that may require financial retribution in one way or another. For example if you happen to be in a car accident your cover will help to pay for repair, medical expenses or assist in covering any cost you may have to disburse to the other driver.
There are a multitude of insurances that are on offer to cover almost everything. Here are a few policies that can be purchased:
Property
Life
Health
Home
Auto
Funeral
Liability
Credit
Casualty
Accident, Sickness, Unemployment
Expatriate
Kidnap and Ransom
Collateral Protection
The list can get quite long but you get an idea of how important it is to match your needs and lifestyle with the cover you plan to purchase. Whether its car, life or health cover choosing the right company will be a most important step along with the type of insurance you decide to accept. Searching the internet has made it easier to find an insurer. But a good insurer may need more investigation. To save you a bit of work, here is a list of the top three insurance companies in Australia and their services.
1. Medibank Private
This company has nearly 3.4 million clients covered. Statistically this makes them the principal health insurer group in Australia. Their range of personal covers includes life, travel and pet. They also embrace a number of health and wellbeing programs along with corporate health cover products. Medibank Private has stated their financial position is secure and they are prepared for potential challenges for the future counting Australia’s aging population.
2. QBE
As a provider for over 123 years OBE has offices in 49 countries with a staff of approximately 13,500. Being Australia’s largest international insurance and reinsurance company plus one of the best twenty-five world insurers they offer an array of sound policies. They are quite large but do offer national coverage in Australia with more than 50 agencies in every state and territory. For the past nine years this insurer has been awarded the title of General Insurer of the Year by the National Insurance Brokers Association. Some of the covers they offer are personal, business and workers compensation. With such a good reputation QBE seems like a good choice as a first time insurer.
3. GIO
GIO provides various covers such as life, home, travel, boat & caravan, business and workers compensation. With 92 workplaces in Victoria, Western Australia (Perth), Queensland (Brisbane and the Gold Coast) and New South Wales and the ACT you are sure to find an office close by.
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How Can You Trust An Insurance Company?
Posted by in Insurance Companies on September 17, 2011
With insurance costs on the rise, selecting the right income protection insurance or other insurance company right for you can be a little confusing. It is important to remember that insurance companies are like any other and they are selling products and services to make profit. Too many people pay money for years only to find out that their insurance company finds a way to not honour their payment in a time of need. So how do we deal with this issue?
Get over the marketing. Insurance companies have a million and one ways to try and convince us they are reliable and will always be there for you. With names like ‘Trust’, ‘Care’, ‘Life Long’ (disclaimer – these are only examples and do not refer to any particular company) you have to understand that they will use all the possible tools of marketing to get your business. When it comes to paying out your claim they have an entirely different approach. Ignore names, branding, images and the like. Understand that it is all marketing and not making legal promises. What counts is what you pay and what you get – nothing else.
Get real about them not paying. Many insurance companies, including life insurance, home and contents etc, have particular people that are employed not to pay you. This has been exposed a number of times in the media and you need to get real about it. Individuals or organisations that increase their income to find ways to knock back claims. Insurance companies would not make money if they paid out more than they earned. So not paying is something that they must take seriously. They must investigate situation and protect themselves against fraudulent claims, and this will mean many measures inside their company to investigate your claim. Because of the competitive nature of business, you can naturally expect those in the business of investigating claims to be paid incentives when finding legal reasons not to pay – this is just the nature of any modern business today.
Read their claims. Understand when you see a statement made by any company it does not mean they are making a legally binding agreement with you. Many statements are not legally binding agreements and are purely marketing. Don’t be fooled by what is what.
Understanding contracts. The reality is that contracts are made up of many definitions and terms. You must refer to the definitions of these terms. The reason why a claim is not paid is often based on the definition of a word used in the contract. Do not take words in a contract to mean what they normally do in plain language.
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