Fed: One on four Australians underinsured - AAMI
CANBERRA, April 7 AAP - One in four Australians with home or contents insurance wasdeliberately underinsured, research by a major insurer revealed today.
One in five Australians remained uninsured and risked losing everything to fire, theAAMI survey and claims analysis found.
"In spite of the recent devastating bushfires, a quarter of all people with home buildingsinsurance say their insurance would not cover the full cost of rebuilding their home ifit burned down," AAMI manager Geoff Hughes said in a statement.
"Even more disturbing, one in 10 people who live in bushfire-prone areas admit theyhave no home or content insurance."
A common reason for the lack of insurance was the expense.
Almost one in four Australians had taken extra precautions since the recent bushfires,including clearing gutters and fuel near homes.
Most of the survey respondents believed the ACT compensation scheme for victims ofJanuary's Canberra bushfires, which gave $10,000 for the uninsured and $5,000 for theinsured, was unfair.
"Many people feel the policy discriminated unfairly against people with insurance andbelieve payments should have been uniform for all home owners," Mr Hughes said.
The research also found more than one in five Australians had experienced fire in the home.
Most household fires start in the kitchen (55 per cent) and Saturday evening was theriskiest part of the week for fire.
Fire service levies in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania were considered unfair by 86 percent of respondents.
The research excluded Western Australia and the Northern Territory where AAMI does not operate.
AAP rmg/kim
KEYWORD: INSURANCE
No comments:
Post a Comment