Fifty Bucks is Fifty Bucks

It was with some alarm that I opened the mail yesterday to find a renewal notice for Lib's car insurance saying that the premium payment was overdue and must be paid immediately, and that the car was currently uninsured. I don't recall the first notice at all, it must have slipped by me pre Christmas.

I didn't have time to act straight away, but I rang another company at about 5.30pm looking for a quote for comparison, being mindful also that Lib was now home so there was little risk till the morning of the car being damaged before I could sort out new cover.

The company I rang is based in Sydney, Real Insurance, and I thought they'd be worth a try as they were cheaper when I shopped around last year for cover for Ian's Subaru, Lib's old car, which is still with us here in Gembrook and available for our use. I took it to Pakenham yesterday to drop some documents to the council and do some shopping. After a wait of 5 minutes listening to music a girl spoke to me apologizing for the delay and explaining their office worked till 8pm so she would take my details and someone would ring me back at a time that suited me if they could.

I said 7.30pm and gave her my home phone no. The phone duly rang a little after 7.30pm, just before Lib was to dish our Atlantic salmon that I'd bought on the way home, much to her irritation. The young man took all details of the car and came up with annual premium $53 cheaper than AAMI which could be paid monthly on credit card in 12 equal instalments with no penalty for the monthly choice over one annual payment, the same deal I'd taken on the Subaru. It makes sense to me.

So I grabbed it and we finished up quickly without any spoilage of the meal. I have two more cars covered by AAMI, my carryvan and Meredith's Ignis and as they fall due I'll try Real Ins too. Fifty bucks is fifty bucks, and it may as well stay with us. I had said the same thing recently when I wrestled with the farmpak insurance on the farm, for the house and sheds. The premium jumped from $2800 to $4200 with no explanation so I spent quite a bit of time seeking alternatives. One came in at $3450, I waited a bit another came in at $3250 by email after some delay. I rang and accepted that over the phone, the broker said he'd send me the paperwork. The very next day another one came in by email at $3200 so I rang and accepted that. Fifty bucks is fifty bucks.

The next morning I emailed the broker who offered $3250 saying I was not proceeding. The phone rang ten minutes later, it was he. "Why not", he asked. I told him a cheaper price had come in, different broker, same insuring company. "How much cheaper," he asked.

I wasn't going to tell him so I said, "Three figures woud cover it." He then offered a premium of $3030 so I grabbed that and rang the other broker saying I was not proceeding. She was fine about it. So I saved over $1000 on the original gouge but the insurance still costs about 7% above last year's.

Also yesterday we received invoice for our water diverting licence and entitlement fee, $577, increased 15% from $502 last year. We used no water last year because of all the rain, (you pay for it whether you use it or not or lose the licence), and are unlikely to this year also as it is pouring rain outside and our recently acquired tanks are full. We installed tanks because we weren't permitted to use the creek water the two years previous because stream flows were so low. They waived payment in those years. We have to pay now because if you lose the licence you wouldn't get another one. I'm intending to look into possibility of selling the water, 14 megalitres, but who wants water in wet years.

Speaking of rain, this lot is accompanied by a cold snap and a thunderstorm and strong wind. The dogs are peculiar and I missed my walk choosing to do this post instead. The radio news just said squalls of 100kph winds are expected in tha Dandenongs. I'll have to go out and pick later but i have some slack this morning so I'm off to cook up some eggs.