Coles gives us price check on insurance

RateCity reports on the newest player to enter the car insurance market and the innovative offerings that you could claim.

Gone are the days when car insurance can be purchased only from insurance companies. Now, a range of organisations have expanded their product offerings and are now selling car insurance.

One of these organisations to join the car insurance arena is supermarket giant Coles. After conducting a trial in Tasmania last year, Coles now offers car insurance nationwide. Coles extended their product range to include third party property damage, third party fire and theft and comprehensive car insurance to customers, both online and through a dedicated call centre.

Wesfarmers General Insurance, owners of the Coles Group, are the underwriters for Coles Car Insurance as well as Kmart Car Insurance, which launched in March this year.

Are the ‘prices down’?

Whenever a new car insurance company enters the market, drivers are skeptical on how much cheaper is it in comparison, how does the level of cover compare and what is so special about it that you should choose it over your current car insurance provider?

According to Coles Chief Financial Officer Tony Buffin their aim was to create a "...unique and compelling car insurance product for Australians." And unique they do bring, by offering a handful of extra rewards such as fuel discounts (triple the existing 4 cents per litre off fuel voucher once per month for a year), a 5 percent discount in the first year when purchasing online, Flybuys points when purchasing a policy, and your groceries are covered if they are damaged in a collision.

They are certainly offering something that no other car insurers currently do, but the big question is – how does it compare in price?

RateCity used the same driver profile for an address in Doncaster, Melbourne, and for an address in Marrickville, Sydney, and compared 26 other car insurance companies against Coles comprehensive car insurance. The results showed that in Sydney, Coles was below the average cost at $1143 and in Melbourne Coles offered the lowest quote overall at $533, followed by Bingle which followed closely behind on $556.60.

However while the prices may be competitive, if you want to include car hire or one excess free windscreen claim, adding each of these options will set you back an extra $64, although several other companies also charge for these extras.

More players in the market means more reason to shop around for your car insurance

With Coles and Kmart Car Insurance now on board and with other new players such as Virgin Car Insurance offered by Virgin Money, there is now more reason to shop around and compare car insurance quotes online.

When there are more players, obviously there is more competition, which then challenges the major players to offer better priced deals in order to keep their customers happy. By comparing online through financial comparison websites, customers are able to gain an idea of what they should be paying and what is too high. Could you get a better price for your policy?