If you live in an apartment, unit or townhouse, you could be paying hundreds more for your insurance than your neighbour.
ACA has applied for dozens of online quotes for comprehensive car insurance and consistently found differences amounting to hundreds of dollars within the same apartment complexes.
The same car with the same driver is charged a different premium for car insurance depending on what level of the building they reside. It is not an isolated incident either, in fact, it is happening in cities across Australia.
In Brisbane, an online quote for car insurance at a block of flats in the suburb of Sherwood showed a big difference. In unit six, insurance would cost $466 but in unit eight, it is higher at $530 for no apparent reason. In Ipswich, there is an $88 difference between apartment numbers two and three.
It’s the same in Sydney. There is a $170 difference between units at a Penrith complex and in Blacktown, there is a $113 difference between identical units. ACA reporters in Melbourne saw the same thing in Dandenong.
ACA found price differences in comprehensive care insurance from AAMI, Suncorp, Apia and GIO which are all members of the Suncorp group. A number of other major insurers were tested but the same issue did not arise.
