INSURING YOUR CAR
What happens if I cancel my car insurance?
What happens if I cancel my insurance?
If you cancel an existing GIO Comprehensive or Platinum car insurance policy, you would no longer have cover for damage to your own or another person’s vehicle in an accident. You could also be left out of pocket for damage from events such as hail, storms (including cyclones), flood, fire (including bushfire) and theft.
What about cancelling my CTP or MAI Insurance?
There are only a few circumstances where you can cancel a CTP or MAI Insurance policy, such as where you have an unused NSW Green Slip or if your vehicle is written off due to damage. Generally, if you cancel your vehicle registration through your state or territory’s transport authority, your CTP or MAI Insurance policy will also be cancelled.
What to consider before cancelling your car insurance
Will you need to repurchase insurance soon?
It’s important to consider whether cancelling your insurance is worth it. How much money will you save? And what risks are you exposing yourself to?
It’s also worth recognising that insurance costs are not fixed. If you cancel your car insurance today and want a new policy in six months, the premium for a new policy may not be the same as you’re paying now. It could end up costing you more.
Making changes to adjust your premium
You may prefer to keep your insurance but are concerned with the premium you’re paying. Making changes to your policy can lower your premiums, such as:
- increasing the excess you pay when you make a claim;
- changing your level of cover;
- removing optional covers (e.g. hire car after an event); or
- changing the sum insured by lowering the total amount covered, or if you have GIO Comprehensive Insurance, choosing the option ‘market value cover’, if we agree.
Making any of these changes could mean you end up paying more if you were to lodge a claim or you may not have sufficient coverage should an incident occur. It could also mean loss of cover for events such as hail, flood, storms (including cyclones), fire (including bushfire) and theft. Whether these risks make sense is up to you. You could also consider changing your payment frequency from monthly to annually.
If you’re unsure, you can contact GIO via Chat or call on 13 10 10 – our specialists will be able to help review your policy.
Cooling off period
At GIO, the cooling off period for car insurance is 21 days. So, if you took out car insurance with us less than three weeks ago, you can cancel (so long as you didn’t make a claim) and we will refund the money you paid for the policy. If you’re not a GIO customer, you’ll need to check the cooling off period.
Do I lose my Claims free savings if I cancel?
Yes. GIO rewards customers for every consecutive year they don’t make a claim with credit on next year’s premium. The longer you keep your policy with us, the greater the credit – from 5% after one year to 20% after 15 years. It needs to be continuous years of GIO Platinum or Comprehensive Car Insurance to qualify. So, cancelling your policy would mean you would lose any Claims free savings discount you have accumulated.
If you’ve considered all of that and still want to cancel your GIO policy, give us a call on 13 10 10 and we’ll help you out. You can cancel at any time.
Read more:
- A guide to reading your car insurance PDS
- Don’t just set and forget! Five things to check on your car insurance at renewal time
- How you can prevent your car from being stolen
- What’s the difference between amount covered and market value?
Insurance issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as GIO. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement before buying this insurance. The Target Market Determination is also available.
Any advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it. The information is intended to be of general nature only. Subject to any rights you may have under any law (including the Australian Consumer Law), we do not accept any legal responsibility for any loss incurred as a result of reliance upon it – please make your own enquiries.
