I went to SGIO a year ago, without doing 'Due Diligence!' I thought SGIO was still owned by the WA State Government. (SGIO stands for State Government Insurance Office.) But somewhere along the line, the business was sold to Insurance Australia group, who also owns such brands as NRMA, SGIC, CGU, Swann Insurance and WFI. They are BIG! I took out insurance with them, and inside a week, I was unlucky enough to be hit in the rear of my car while stationary (In Gridlock) on the Kwinana Freeway. The driver admitted responsibility, gave me his insurance details, etc - no problem. But, when I tried to claim with SGIO, firstly they took ages to reply to me. Then I waited another approx. three weeks without hearing from them. Meanwhile, I was driving around with parts at the rear of my car dangling down; not good. So then I started to ring/email them to find out what was happening. Eventually, somebody from their office told me that as I had made a claim within 7 days of taking out a policy, I was being investigated by them for fraud! I pointed out that I wasn't at fault, and the other driver had admitted liability, and his insurance would pay the damage bill, to no avail. In all, from memory, it was something like 6 or 7 weeks before the finally contacted me with repairer details. No apology for the long delay, or suspecting I was 'trying it on them' - nothing. Very 'High Handed'.Not good at all.
They were the lowest price overall. Very helpful when checking my options to help keep cost down as I am a pensioner now.
My policy with my previous insurer was due to expire on 4/4/20, and as I was not happy with their renewal conditions, I decided to change to SGIO. In years past, SGIO was the State Government Insurance Office of Western Australia, and I remembered they had always been a good, fair and reasonable business to deal with. I paid a year's insurance to them several days before my policy was due to expire, specifying it was to start on the 4/2/20. On the 5/2/20, one day after my policy with SGIO commenced, I was rear-ended while stationary in stop-start conditions on the Kwinana freeway. The guy who ran into me admitted liability to me, and subsequently was on a phone call with an SGIO case officer. I was given the name of a repairer in my area by SGIO, and obtained a quote . As I was leaving the repairer, he volunteered that my file had a 'hold' placed on it by SGIO, and he was unable to order parts until the hold was removed. He suggested I contact SGIO to find out why the hold was in place. A phone call to SGIO told me that because I had made a claim within 10 days of taking out a policy, special provisions had to be complied with. One of the requests from SGIO was that they needed to sight a document from my previous insurer, saying I was no longer insured with them. I complied with this, but time passed and I was unable to get any further on what the holdup was. I aged visibly waiting on hold to speak to someone, and one time I actually got through before my phone battery went flat. She told me the case was still under investigation but was unable to give me a date when I would get the go-ahead. I resorted to sending increasingly strident emails to SGIO, which were ignored for a further three weeks. After a total of more than five weeks had passed, I eventually received the go-ahead to get the repair. I took my car into the repairer yesterday and collected it today have collected my car today from being repaired, after having to have driven around with rear-end damage for almost six weeks. (They did a great job.) During all of this time, SGIO stonewalled my claim without explanation, apart from telling me the delay was due to the claim being made within 10 days of the policy commencement.
Have been very helpful and fast when needed.
The insurer I was with was government, so it was established and well known and everything seemed to run smoothly.
Expensive for what you get.
Easy to read policy wordings, don't have to specify accessories.
Long established Queensland company
Why is it that every year your policy goes up but surely the value of your car drops but when you ring and say can they do a better price they look st it and come back with a l ss amount if they want us to stay with them decrease the policy to keep us even if it is only a small amount that we the customer will not go looking for another quote where are our rewards for staying with you.
SGIO have provided their services to my family for 16 years and we have always found them 100% in their helpfulness and services.
When I made a claim, they were prompt and very caring. SGIO organised to get my car attended to very quickly and gave me a car until mine was fixed which was only a few days. My care came back looking brand new. I was extremely pleased.
I use this insurer as they are the only ones to cover me as i've had a recent crash. however when i went to renew my insurance for the first time, the guy told me i cant and i have to make a new claim, it all seemed kind of fishy as even the price was higher, i told him no, hung up, called again, different person, straight away renewed my insurance without hassle, seemed fishy but i got my insurance covered. next time i'm changing companies.
I have had several occasions where I have had to deal with someone over the phone which was made difficult and frustrating due to either language barriers or them finding it difficult to understand me even though I speak clear and fluent English. They are also not competitive in their quotes.
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