5 Tips for Choosing the Right Insurance Plan
Choosing the right insurance plan can be a frustrating hassle. With insurance companies competing aggressively for your business and smaller providers eager to sell, it can see like the ‘information’ in the industry is really a disguised sales pitch. Thousands of Australians invest in personal insurance on a weekly basis, and many describe the process as a painful yet necessary annoyance.
If you’re tired of navigating through deceptive sales pitches, confusing contracts, and questionable offer forms, use these five tips to smooth the process. Each one can help you find a more suitable and competitively priced insurance contract, and all have the potential to drastically cut down the stress involved in finding a long or short-term insurance plan.
1. Take stock of your possessions and major assets
Before you shop around for an insurance plan, it’s important to consider which possessions you will need covered. Most insurance plans offer coverage for both your home and its contents, making the process of claiming back damaged belongings fairly simple. Go through your house with a camera and document any major belongings, heirlooms, and valuable possessions.
2. Consider how a plan may affect your lifestyle
Some insurance plans offer limited coverage for people that are involved in dangerous work, sports activities, or frequent travel. Before you purchase a health insurance or life insurance plan, check its coverage conditions to ensure that you’re not being left out in the cold. Some plans exclude medical expenses associated with contact sports, motorcycle accidents, or international travel.
3. Check for travel coverage and lost opportunity options
If you’re a frequent traveller, it’s absolutely essential to check that your plan keeps you covered in all countries. Some plans offer domestic coverage only, and won’t allow you to claim for medical expenses or lost possessions while overseas. If you’re in doubt, contact the insurance provider and ask about the depth, cost, and suitability of their travel coverage.
4. Compare premiums and service levels
There’s no logical system for comparing insurance costs, and each provider seems to offer a wildly different estimate when asked directly. If you’re thinking of going with the first deal you see, it can be worth contacting other insurance firms to see if they can offer a more competitive deal. Despite the wide usage of online premium calculators, it’s still best to find out costs directly on the phone.
5. Watch out for hidden charges and excess rates
Not all insurance companies offer fair coverage – some are unethical in their billing practices, and others quite predatory in the way they market to existing customers. Before you commit to a long-term contract or travel insurance deal, check for hidden costs and extreme excess rates. Expenses that seem small can often swell out of control under the conditions that many companies set.
This is particularly true for young adults seeking coverage for a vehicle, holiday, or severe medical situation. Make sure that you quiz agents over the phone about hidden claim costs, and spend some time going over your contract before you sign it and start paying monthly premiums.