We recently heard a story about a person unfortunate enough to be hit by a third party on one of Auckland's roads. A scary and stressful situation but no one was hurt and all parties had insurance.
The person involved in the incident thought she had a fairly good idea of how the claims process would go, but what she thought she was getting and what she actually got were two very different things. When she was told that her insurer would organise the quotes for her, she never imagined that she'd be expected to supply a full tank of petrol for the assessor to drive her car to get quotes, or that she'd be without her car for the next few days.
Her policy told her she'd have the use of a courtesy car, but at claim time none were available. When it came to actually having her car fixed she was without it for 10 days!! Again, no courtesy vehicle was available to her. Could you afford to be without your vehicle for more than a day?
How can you make sure you get what you actually pay for?
Always get advice before purchasing an insurance policy. An insurance broker works for you, and not the insurance company. They have the benefit of experience with varying insurer's so they know which ones have the best claim records … and they ask the questions that you don't know to ask.
You may have heard the saying "the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten". This is just as true for insurance as it is for anything else. A cheap premium is hardly worth it if you don't get what you thought you were paying for at claim time.