Hollard Insurances and Underwriting

Hollard gets mentions on a number of topics on the site. Car Insurance, Pet Insurance, Funeral Insurance, Life Insurance are a few of the many policies they either offer or underwrite.

I am raising this topic to allow a more general discussion of whether all the policies they offer/underwrite are value for money or do they have issues that make them less valuable even if the price and/or deal initially seems attractive.

RSPCA Pet Insurance has been mentioned, as has Real Car policies. Just recently a Woolworths/Hollard policy matter has been asked re not all fault benefits. What are your opinions, experiences, what do you think of their value for money, ethics, claims processes and other issues.

Are they value for money, are theirā€™s the better options?

Opinions are valuable but be careful to not be libelous, if you have had bad experiences be factual (have the proof handy if needed). In general keep it civil.

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We have had experience with Hollard (quotes for house and content but accepted a quotation from a competitor) as they will tailor make insurance policies based on a particular risk profileā€¦rather than a generic based policy offered by the retail insurers.

For example, if one runs a home business or rents parts of their house our (e.g. AirBnb), underwriters like Hollard and other underwriters (e.g. Chubb) can provide specific coverage for non-domestic functions within the domestic environment.

Some underwriters also will cover house and contents that retail insurers exclude from coverageā€¦an example is a heritage listed house/building.

In the case of covering exclusions of retail insurers or more comprehensive coverage of non-domestic uses within a domestic environment, they may have their place. For such purposes, we have found their premiums similar to retailer insurers for the same property/contents value, but where exclusions or coverage is not possible through them (e.g. heritage house/building). They also issue specific conditions in relation to their cover which should be read and understood before accepting, as these can have limitations of coverage.

With any insurer, either a retail insurer or a underwriter (accessed say through a broker), it pays to shop around and determine which offer for insurance best meets oneā€™s needs.

It is also not possible to go directly to these underwriters and one needs to either go through a specialised insurance broker or on sold policies through some retailer insurers.

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While anecdotal, the productreview forum has lots of reviews for some Hollard underwritten policies such as Seniors, Real and others. Some think that even by insurance standards where unhappy reviews dominate Hollard have their own ā€˜special placeā€™.

For example some of their reviews are incredible! Excepting they are new customers who have been ā€˜encouragedā€™ to review who rave about low premiums and helpful sales people. There seem to be Very Few reviews for those who have made claims, and those are not so flattering. Finding reviews from people who claimed seems as difficult as it could be made.

The sheer number of such favourable posts was a red flag all by itself. This is a Hollard underwritten policy product. Is this credit to Hollard, or on Seniors? Make your own conclusion after looking at more Hollard underwritten insurance reviews.

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If that is not suspect, I donā€™t know what is.

And it is in stark contrast to Suncorp Motor Insurance which we have used for decades.

I know which one I would trust, especially after Australian Seniors puerile funeral insurance TV ads.

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