AAMI car insurance

The excess refers to the amount you’ll have to pay when you make a claim before AAMI will pay for anything. For example, you might have $500 worth of damage to your car and a $200 excess. You would pay $200 and AAMI would pay the extra $300.

You can tailor your policy by choosing to pay a high excess and therefore lower premiums, or lowering your excess in return for higher premiums. The former might be a good idea if you don’t have much cash up front and the likelihood of an accident is low. The latter might be handy because it means you’ll only have to come up with a small sum of money in an emergency.

Yes, AAMI does offer CTP (compulsory third party) car insurance. However, it is only available to drivers in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia.

In the ACT, this is called Motor Accident Injuries cover and if you want to go with AAMI, you can select it as your preferred insurance provider upon registering your vehicle with Access Canberra.

Besides CTP insurance, AAMI also offers third party property car insurance. While CTP cover is a legal requirement all over Australia, third party property cover is optional. That said, it might be a good idea to have it, if you don’t want to wind up with a big bill from the mechanics.

AAMI’s third party property car insurance provides:

• $20 million of legal liability 

• Cover for damage to other people’s property

• Up to $5,000 worth of cover for damage to your car caused by an uninsured driver.

It should be noted that third party car insurance does not provide cover for damage done to your own car. The only exception to this is if it is damaged by an uninsured driver (as mentioned above). Or, you can opt for additional third party cover which includes cover for fire or theft damage caused to your car.

This optional cover for fire and theft includes:

• Up to $10,000 worth of cover for fire and theft damage

• A hire car following a theft, up to a maximum of 21 days

• Up to $500 worth of personal items cover. This is to cover any personal items such as laptops, phones etc, if they are stolen from your car.

There are a few ways to save money with AAMI’s comprehensive car insurance, including:

• One year of roadside assistance, at no extra cost

• An online discount, at the time of writing AAMI was offering a $50 discount for comprehensive car insurance policies purchased online

• With AAMI’s Flexi-Premiums. If you choose a higher excess, you can reduce the cost of your premium, if you choose a lower excess your premium will be higher, but you’ll pay less at claim time.

• Paying annually rather than monthly. Paying your premium in monthly installments will cost you a bit extra.

• As much as a 10% discount if you pass AAMI’s Skilled Driver Course. The course is aimed at drivers under 25 and is open to those with a P-Plate or full license.

• Money off with AAMI’s Safe Driver Rewards program. 

Yes, AAMI does have its own version of a no claims bonus discount - the AAMI Safe Driver Rewards program. 

Similar to a no claims discount, this program rewards you for driving safely and not making any claims. You’ll start out on ‘Gold Status’ and if you drive safely for a year and make no claims, you’ll receive a ‘Safe Driver Rewards credit’. This will start at 2.5% and increase to a maximum of 15% after ten years of driving safely. 

If you have roadside assistance with AAMI you might also be eligible to receive a discount on that. Discounts with AAMI’s roadside assistance cover start at 5% after three years of safe driving and go up to a maximum of 25% after nine years.

The discounts are broken down as follows:

The credit that you receive will be worked out as a percentage of your previous year’s premium.

Your car insurance premium is calculated on the likelihood of you making a claim, which AAMI predicts based on a number of factors like:

• The make, model and colour of your car
• Special features or modifications on your car
• Where you live and where you keep your car (e.g. in a garage, on the street, etc.)
• How often and who drives the car

You can pay your AAMI premium annually or monthly, but if you choose to pay it in monthly installments, remember that it will cost extra. Payment options include online payment through the AAMI website, Bpay, over the phone, through old school mail and by popping into the post office.

AAMI will cover the cost of towing your car if it breaks down, as well as alternate travel and accommodation if you’re far from home at the time. Just keep in mind that you’ll need to get in contact with AAMI before having any repairs done, or else they might not be covered under your policy.

You know the jingle, you know the facts, so now, read up on what AAMI customers think of their car insurance policies. Everyday Aussies have rated AAMI on things like customer service, convenience and trust in our customer review section.

You can make a claim on your AAMI car insurance policy over the phone, online or even on the mobile app. Make sure you have a few things handy to make it easier, such as:

• Your car insurance policy number
• Details about where and when the accident happened
• Photos of the accident might be useful, and if you’re using the app, you can upload them straight from your phone

Make sure you get the details of anyone else involved in an accident, or any witnesses who may be able to help your claim. Some information you might like to ask for includes: 

• name
• contact details
• licence number
• insurance company and registration number of their vehicle (if they are involved in the accident)