How Australian motor insurers scam policy holders,
                          and vehicle repairers, and how you could be driving an unsafe and unroadworthy vehicle.

                                                                     . . . . Lucky you're with who?                                    Page first published Late May 2015
 
In the next few weeks we will be naming the insurers who force vehicle repairers to cut corners and put dangerous vehicles back on the road, and how you get defrauded by them when accepting a cash settlement for a 'written-off' vehicle. These insurers, who push their image as good corporate citizens, are household names, yet behind the scenes they conspire to improve their bottom lines by refusing to pay repairers fair and reasonable repair costs, and in one recent example, an insurance company assessor has been charged by NSW police with assaulting a repairer who refused to bend to that insurer's will.

We HAVE named the insurers and show:

• Numerous examples of unsafe and dangerously unroadworthy vehicles being handed back to unwitting owners.
• Standover tactics against repairers
• Illegal assessments by unqualified staff
  
• Ripping hundreds of dollars from repair quotes before paying out cash settlements.
• Ripping in many cases thousands of dollars from repair quotes before authorising repair work.
  
• Forcing repair work to be done at repair shops the insurer either own or control.
• How successive NSW Governments, Ministers and the Department of Fair Trading have buckled under the power of these insurers and refused to tighten up and properly regulate the industry.  

These insurers are real big guys, with big war chests to bluff objectors with legal battles, intimidate authorities, stand over the repair industry and generally behave in a manner contrary to their policy holder's interests but favourable to their shareholder's and the bottom line.
The Big Offenders:

NRMA Insurance is one of the biggest offenders of all the insurers.   (NRMA is owned by Insurance Australia Group Limited, (IAG) who also own Westfarmers, Coles, Bunnings and many other interests in hotels, liquor and food retail.)

The culture existing in this outfit is one of standover tactics, bullying repairers, skimming from policy holder's rightfull cash settlements, employing outlaw motor cycle gang thugs as assesors. Their assessment department is THE WORST in the country and is actively supporting bad repairs (see YouTube 01 )  and ripping off policy holders: YouTube 02
And their standover tactics are further exposed in a recent case where  NRMA Insurance assessor (name withheld), assaulted an independent repairer. This has happened only in the last few weeks. The assessor has been charged by police. He has not been stood down by NRMA !!
Update November 16, 2016: In another incident near Canberra last Friday May 29, 2015, police arrested Rebel bikie Chris Guymer for possession of a sawn off shotgun. He was stopped whilst driving a motor vehicle which belonged to NRMA Insurance. Guymer has confirmed to police that he is an NRMA assessor. The vehicle has been impounded for forensic tests and Guymer has been refused bail.
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. . . and subsidiaries below:
     
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Let's not leave the SUNCORP Insurance Limited group of insurers shown above out of this exposure.
We have evidence of a Suncorp Insurance Assessor assaulting a repairer, one Mark Chandler, just recently also. Mr Chandler was assualted at Smart Centre shop in Queanbeyan, again for standing up to the assessor's pressure tactics. The very same culture pervading NRMA Insurance is alive and well in SUNCORP.
SUNCORP - AAMI and Just Car Insurances, See Report ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Ahh..liance"  This outfit is no better than the others,
We will shortly publish a recorded conversation between a senior Allianz assessor and a repairer wherein the Allianz representative berates the repairer and announces that Allianz will no longer alow him to repair policy holders vehicles. His crime - standing up to the pressure to repair vehicles at a price insisted on by Allianze despite independent assesments showing the real cost of proper repairs being much higher.
 
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General comments on the industry - ABC 7.30 Report
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SUNCORP and its subsidiaries together with NRMA Insurance and Allianz, have the biggest chunk of the motor insurance industry between them. They spend millions of advertising dollars in presenting themselves as absolutely the best to be with, when indeed they are by far the very worst.  . . . . . . "Unlucky you're with AAMI" and "NRMAmade worse" and "Ahhg Allianz" would be more appropiate advertising jingles.
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We have much more coming over the next few weeks - watch this space for further proof of highly danderous vehicles being handed back to unsuspecting owners, putting their lives at risk.

If you have an example you would like published, email us with details. (We will not publish or disclose any names without consent.)