Insurers... Sigh

[Tins]

Last year I got a really good deal on my home cover. Truly great. Too good to be true, apparently. It was underwritten by the banana bender version of an auto club. Seems that either they have changed their policy, or they have just noticed I'm on a bushfire overlay.. Back to the ole drawing board.

Might be a few folk in my area who are going to find this out, come renewal time.

[Eevo]

shop around

[DoubleChevron]

shop around

It doesn't seem to help, if they flag your area as flood (even if its never flooded) or bushfire .... They are so eye waveringly expensive, they are basically saying "we do not want to insure you".

One of my neighbours had a similar issue a while back. they flagged his place as a flood risk due to it being near a creek. Yes a creek sort of runs through his land. Imagine a hillside, his house on the top of the hill.... and the usually dry creek at the base of the hill. He suggested to the insurance company they would have much bigger issues than him if that creek ever flooded his house (ie: the entire country of australia would need to be under water) .... but they didn't seem to get it ....

[V8Ian]

He suggested to the insurance company they would have much bigger issues than him if that creek ever flooded his house (ie: the entire country of australia would need to be under water) .... but they didn't seem to get it ....
It's not quite that simple.
Depends on where rain falls, often on the top of hills as moisture in the air condenses, flooding areas on the way to sea level.
The geography is constantly subject to change from natural causes, dams temporary or unintended and developers' building up of flood plains et al.
Insurance is the same as taking a punt; insurers are betting that a dwelling won't flood/catch fire etc.. The house always wins.

[Eevo]

they are basically saying "we do not want to insure you".

but they didn't seem to get it ....

sorry for being a little blunt.

they are a private business. they have no obligaion to insure you.

if they refused to insure you, would you take the risk and still live there?
btw, i live in a bushfire area.


yes, they pay a 3rd party company to get the the info and they dont deviate from it.

[Saitch]

It's not quite that simple.
Depends on where rain falls, often on the top of hills as moisture in the air condenses, flooding areas on the way to sea level.
The geography is constantly subject to change from natural causes, dams temporary or unintended and developers' building up of flood plains et al.
Insurance is the same as taking a punt; insurers are betting that a dwelling won't flood/catch fire etc.. The house always wins.

Nah, Ian. A lot is to do with the bull**** that the local government, shiney-arses have thought up.

In the latest Council Overlays, the gully/creek to the North of my house has a 'Flood Overlay' on it. This is the watercourse that has its head about 100 metres up from my dam.

Now, the AHD height of the gully, at the base of the dam wall is 85m. The house is 112m. The gully, when it gets enough rain, eventually flows into the North Pine River. The elevation at this confluence is 45m.

Using these official AHD heights, I challenge anyone to explain to me how my house could flood! Or, for that matter, the gully.

I doubt that there has ever been 40 odd metres of water over the North Pine bridge on Mt Samson Road. [bighmmm]

[Tins]

In my case there has been a bushfire overlay here for the 26 years I have owned it. The Dandenongs are known to be fire prone, but my particular area hasn't burned in probably a century. But I guess, if you take the insurance industry as bookies, I guess that just increases the odds.

It's probably because the people two doors down have installed an EV charger....[bigwhistle][bigwhistle]. Seriously though, I'll have to speak to my neighbours and see if they have had a similar issue. I have got a couple of quotes from others, so it's not industry wide.... yet.

[Tins]

Oh yeah, the rain falls here straight down....often.

[RANDLOVER]

Bupa customers voice frustrations over denied health insurance claims - ABC News (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-04/bupa-private-health-insurance-customers-denied-claims/105484650)

Seems Bupa has been denying claims in full when only a part of claims were uncovered.