RateCity
Coles Car Insurance
RateCity investigates a new player in the car insurance market, bringing clever marketing to win market share. We show you how Coles compares.
July 4, 2010
When shopping around for car insurance the choice is vast, however as a customer more competition means competitive prices, so you are bound to find a premium to suit your budget and you may find some extra goodies thrown in as well.
Take Coles for instance. On July 27, Coles Supermarkets expanded their range of supermarket items to include car insurance nationwide. After testing the waters in Tasmania last year, Coles now offers third party property damage, third party fire and theft and comprehensive car insurance both online and through a dedicated call centre.
The new offering from the supermarket giant is underwritten by Wesfarmers General Insurance, which is also the underwriters for the new Kmart Car Insurance, which launched in March this year.
How does Coles compare?
Coles Chief Financial Officer Tony Buffin says the company aimed to create a "...unique and compelling car insurance product for Australians." And with extra rewards such as triple the existing 4 cents per litre off fuel voucher once per month for a year, Flybuys points for the policy purchase, a 5 percent discount for purchasing it online in the first year and your groceries are covered if they are damaged in a collision - it's certainly a unique offering that other car insurers can't match. But how does it compare?
RateCity compared Coles comprehensive car insurance against 26 other car insurance companies using the same driver profile for an address in Doncaster, Melbourne, and an address in Marrickville, Sydney. The results showed that Coles was below the average cost by $72 at $1143, and in Melbourne Coles was the lowest quote overall at $533, followed by Bingle at $556.60.
However while the prices are competitive, you will have to pay extra if you want to include car hire option and one excess free windscreen claim, both of which will set you back an extra $64 each, although several other companies also charge for these extras.
New players in the market more reason to shop around
As competition increases, there is now more reason to shop around and compare car insurance quotes.
RateCity's CEO, Damian Smith says, "As more car insurance providers enter the market and challenge the major players by offering better priced deals and allowing drivers to compare them on financial comparison sites like ours, prices are likely to come down and the difference between prices will be smaller."
Start comparing car insurance online so you can get more value for money and save a small fortune.
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