Huddle car insurance

Who is Huddle underwritten by?

Huddle’s insurance policies are underwritten by The Hollard Insurance Company. Established in South Africa in 1980, Hollard Insurance went global more than 20 years ago and has been operating in Australia since 1999. Today Hollard underwrites a vast number of Australian insurance providers including Woolworths, Kogan Insurance, Australia Post, Bupa, Pet Insurance Australia and RSPCA Pet Insurance.

What types of car insurance does Huddle offer?

On a basic level Huddle offers two types of insurance: third party and comprehensive. For comprehensive you can choose from either the ‘Everyday Comprehensive’ policy or ‘Huddle Black Comprehensive’ policy. The latter being the highest level of cover you can get for your wheels with Huddle. 

As well as these options there’s also a whole bunch of extras to choose from and you can even select to ‘pay-as-you-drive’ if you aren’t a regular driver.

What does Huddle’s comprehensive car insurance cover?

Huddle’s comprehensive car insurance comes with all the benefits you would expect from a high level of cover. These include:

• Up to $20 million of legal liability

• Cover for damage you may cause to someone else’s property

• Cover for your own wheels, if you are involved in an accident

• Cover for your car if it is damaged as a result of theft, a malicious act or fire

• New for old car replacement - applies if your car is written off up to 2 years after original registration

• $70 a day cover for a hire car following a theft for 14 days

• Up to $1,000 worth of trailer and caravan cover

• Up to $500 for essential repairs

• Up to $500 worth of cover for baby seats and prams

• Up to $500 for personal property

• Emergency travel and accommodation covered up to $500

• Up to $1,000 worth of cover for locks and keys

• Reasonable towing costs

If you want to increase your cover roadside assistance, Kanga cover, excess-free windscreen cover and up to $3,000 worth of sports gear cover are available as optional extras and services.

What else does Huddle Black Comprehensive Car Insurance offer?

Above is the information for Huddle’s Everyday Comprehensive Insurance, if you’re keen to get the highest level cover possible with Huddle you can up the ante and go for Huddle Black Comprehensive Car Insurance. This includes everything that the Everyday policy has, plus more. The main differences are:

• Up to $30 million of legal liability (instead of $20 million)

• Your choice of repairer 

• New for old car replacement for a vehicle up to 3 years old (must have under 70,000km on the clock)

• $80 a day cover for a hire car following a theft, for a maximum of 14 days

• Up to $1,000 worth of cover for personal property

• Up to $2,000 worth of cover for emergency travel and accommodation

• Up to $2,000 worth of cover for locks and keys

• Rental car excess or bond cover, up to $2,000

• Roadside assistance is also automatically included (although this is a separate service provided roadside assist specialists,  Digicall)

As you can see Huddle Black includes more extensive cover than the Everyday Comprehensive policy. It also offers a few extra perks and services such as choice of repairer, rental car excess or bond cover and roadside assistance. These are either not included in the Everyday policy, or are only available as optional extras and services.

What does Huddle car insurance not cover?

Of course as with all insurance policies there are some exclusions to be aware of. Some instances in which Huddle will not cover you are:

• If you use the wrong fuel in your car

• For non-essential repairs that Huddle did not approve

• For further damage which occurs as a result of you driving your car in an already damaged condition

• Tyres damaged by braking, punctures, cuts or bursts

• General wear and tear to your car, e.g. from rust or corrosion

• More than the agreed or market value of your vehicle

• Deliberate damage caused by someone given permission or consent to use your car

Read the product disclosure statement (available on Huddle’s website) for a full and detailed list of all the exclusions that apply to this policy.

More FAQs on Huddle's car insurance

How does Huddle’s pay-as-you-drive car insurance work?

Huddle’s ‘pay-as-you-drive’ car insurance is basically its comprehensive cover but with a discount of up to 30% for driving less than 15,000km per year. That is you can get ‘pay-as-you-drive’ cover with either the Everyday Comprehensive or Huddle Black Comprehensive plans - it is not available with Huddle’s Third Party Property Insurance.

Of course you’ll have to prove that you did indeed drive less than 15,000km in the insurance year. How does Huddle track that you ask? Well it works like this:

• When you sign up, you’ll be be able to purchase between 1,000km and 15,000km for the year (you’ll have to judge this on how many kilometres you usually drive in one year)

• Huddle will then ask for your current odometer reading - which you must supply within 14 days of your policy starting

• Your odometer reading at the end of the insurance period should be your start reading, plus the kilometres you bought

If you think you might go over your allotted kilometres, you can apply to top them up via the ‘manage policies’ part of your account. Although if you do have to do this, just remember that your premium payment will change.

A $1,000 additional excess may apply, if:

• the odometer reading is less than the start odometer reading 

• or more than the start odometer reading, plus kilometres purchased

How does Kanga cover work?

Available as an optional extra, Huddle’s Kanga cover is quite unique. It provides excess-free cover for your first animal collision each year. So should you be unlucky enough to hit an animal, Huddle will either replace or repair your car. 

This additional benefit may be useful if you drive late at night or live in a more rural area. Just keep in mind that opting for it will increase the amount you pay for your premium. Read our article: what to do if you hit a wild animal for tips on general wildlife road awareness.

What does Huddle’s third party property car insurance cover?

If your budget is a little tight or you’re after a more basic level of cover, you might be interested in Huddle’s Third Party Property Insurance. This will provide you for cover if:

• You cause damage to someone else’s vehicle

• Your vehicle is damaged by an uninsured third party (cover is capped at $3,000)

• Plus 24/7 emergency assistance

This insurance plan will not provide cover for your own wheels, although there is the option to add cover for fire and theft. With this your car will be covered if it is damaged by fire, theft or attempted theft. In these instances you will be covered for:

• A hire car

• Essential repairs

• Personal property damage

• Emergency travel and accommodation

• Towing costs

What does roadside assistance cover?

Included with Huddle Black Comprehensive Insurance, or available as an optional services with other policies, roadside assistance through supplier Digicall offers:

• Automotive assistance, e.g. help with inflating a flat tyre or replacing a flat tyre.

• Minor automotive repairs - for this you'll get help with minor breakdown-related repairs.

• Help with a flat battery - if your car battery is flat, your car will either be jump-started or the delivery of a replacement battery will be organised. The cost of the replacement battery will not be covered. Roadside assistance will simply help with the logistics of getting it to you. 

• Delivery of emergency fuel. Should you run out of fuel,  you'll be delivered enough fuel so that you can reach the nearest petrol station. Delivery will be free and a maximum $10 worth of petrol will be provided.

• Help with lost or stolen keys. If you've lost your keys or had them stolen, you'll be provided with up to $50 worth of cover for a spare to be delivered to you, or for a locksmith to be called out.

• Help arranging towing. If your vehicle cannot be repaired at the roadside, it will be towed to the nearest repairer. This is up to 20km in a metro area and up to 100km in a regional area. Any additional towing or repair costs won't be covered.

What excess range does Huddle offer?

With Huddle you can choose to pay an excess from as little as $500 to as much as $5,000. Just remember that the lower the excess, the more you will have to pay come claim time and vice versa.

What does Huddle’s B Corp certification mean?

You may have noticed from Huddle’s website that it is ‘B Corp’ certified. This is a private certification administered by the organisation B Lab. To achieve the certification a company must score at least 80 points out of 200 in the B Impact Assessment. The assessment looks at the environmental, social and governance impact the company has. 

To summarise, B Lab aims to encourage businesses to be about more than just profit and show that no company can be truly sustainable without considering seriously its impact on the world at large. Indeed as part of this Huddle is also part of the 1% for the planet program. Every company that is part of this scheme donates at least 1% of its revenue to a cause that supports the planet.

How do I make a claim with Huddle?

You can lodge a claim with Huddle at any time of the day or night through the fintech’s app: Zap. In fact, this is where Huddle’s tech expertise really comes into play, as the app uses bott-powered technology to automatically approve simple claims, begin organising repairs and help. Here’s a quick rundown of the process:

• First you’ll log into your account on the app

• Then you’ll tell Zap what happened

• After that you’ll be asked to share evidence, such as pictures

• Finally either Zap will approve your claim, or if it’s a little more complicated it will hand it over to an actual person

Some simple claims that Zap might be able to help with include:

• Car crashes or collisions

• A broken windscreen

• Flood damage

• Hail damage

• Something falling on your car

• Bushfire damage

• A lightning strike

How does Huddle calculate car insurance premiums?

Some information that Huddle will use to work out your insurance premium will be:

• What type of cover you want, e.g. Huddle Black or Third Party Property

• What make car you have

• Where your car is parked at night

• What accessories or modifications your car has

• Who drives your car, e.g. how old they are, what their driving history is

• The value of your car