AAMI tackles under-insurance online
6 February 2002
Leading insurer AAMI is tackling the nation's alarming rate of under-insurance with its most recent upgrade of its website. AAMI estimates only around a third of all Australians have adequate home insurance coverage.
Recently revamped calculators on the AAMI website allow visitors to quickly and easily determine the value of their buildings and contents to ensure that this is reflected in their present cover.
"Australians are chronically under-insured," said David Jones, AAMI's e-Business Manager. "Under-insurance is the biggest challenge currently facing the insurance industry and is a real danger for policy holders.
"The experience of the recent Sydney bushfires has provided a wake-up call for all Australian home-owners. The Sydney experience revealed that 70 per cent of people were under-insured and that around one in five homes were not insured at all.
"Through our website we aim to make the process of determining the value of one's home and contents as easy as possible.
"Our building calculator comes in two different versions, an abridged version which takes about a minute to complete and the full version which takes around four minutes to complete.
"The advantage that the AAMI calculator offers is that it is regularly updated with data from Cordell Building Information Services. Cordell has been Australia's leading publisher of building cost information for the last 30 years.
"Determining the value of contents is also quite a daunting task. The calculator makes the process straight forward by providing extensive prompts for items generally found in each room of your home.
"We have made these online calculators as simple to use as possible to encourage people to use them – even if they are already insured.
"Often we find that people take out insurance when they are young and don't think about keeping it up to date as they accumulate more possessions or as the value of their home changes – and of course that becomes an issue in the event of a claim."
The calculators also have the facility to provide an insurance quote after having determined home and contents values.
"AAMI's online calculators demonstrate the way in which this type of technology can be embraced without reducing commitment in other customer service areas. We are determined to provide the very best customer service whether face-to-face or over the telephone and we are embracing new media with a view to enriching our service," said Mr Jones.
The AAMI website can be found at the following URL: http://www.aami.com.au