Filed to: Dull but worthy.
Yeah not my most dynamic post ever. However as I have just spent over an hour on the phone to my insurance company. I thought a few points were worth making.
http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/general-…
With the rise of specialist 4x4 insurance companies here in Oz.
I got thinking about cover for my rigg when out bush.
I have my cars and home insured with these guys.
They are a company that gives really good customer service (with Australian based customer service personnel, not always a given these days) and will work with you for your particular situation. Which is great for me as we don’t really fit a ‘regular customer’ profile for your average insurance company. Is it price competitive, dunno really, it’s more about having the right cover for what we have and what we do. A lot of insurance companies just don’t have the facility for the sort of cover we require.
So I asked if the truck is covered when we are off-road. Yes, anywhere in Australia as long as you are not breaking the law. So trespassing, drink driving and speeding are out. I try to avoid those things anyway. Cool, so if it ends up on it’s side or bogged on a beach with an incoming tide, the truck is covered.
Soon the truck will be parked fully loaded in a remote area for a couple of days with no one around it. So I was concerned about what was inside it. This is what took the time with the nice lady from Shannons, we had to specify any item over $1000 and then there was an unspecified section for smaller $ items. At their suggestion we actually listed a few items that weren’t $1000 replacement cost but were getting up that way, so Maxtrax, power pack, hand winch are all specified items at $1000 value, along with fridge, tent and camera gear which are all comfortably over that amount.
Obviously everyones insurance is going to be different. It might be worth asking the question what is covered and where it is covered. Before this phonecall nothing inside the truck would have been covered, scary.
Non-sequitur: (thanks Tim!) I am generally a believer in having as little insurance as you can get away with. It’s all too easy to fritter away your income in multiple monthy repayments to cover every sort of eventuality. It’s a balance between peace of mind for what you have accumulated in life and actually getting out and enjoying those things.