Important general information for you
You can contact us:
By phone: Call 13 22 44 (24 hours a day every day of the year).
Via the internet: aami.com.au
By mail: PO Box 14180, Melbourne City Mail Centre, Victoria 8001.
In person: Call 13 22 44 for the address of the closest AAMI branch or customer service centre.
When we quote you a premium
When we quote you a premium for AAMI home insurance, the factors we take into account include:
the current cost of rebuilding your home building including the associated costs we cover, such as demolition and removal of debris, making safe, professional fees, extra costs to satisfy current council or government requirements, and temporary accommodation,
our experience of the incidence and cost of building claims,
the value of the benefits we include in your cover,
your insurance history,
the insured address (the address where your building is located),
the cost of providing legal liability cover,
our costs of providing and administering this policy,
whether you pay your premium in instalments,
any discounts that apply because of your particular circumstances.
Government taxes and charges are included in the premium we quote.
Excesses may be payable on any claim you make on this policy. See this page for further details.
Paying your premium
You can pay your premium annually by cheque, credit card, BPAY, online through AAMI e-PAY, or in cash at AAMI Branches or Australia Post Offices. Further details are provided on the payment notice we issue at the commencement and each renewal of your policy.
Paying by instalments
You may also be eligible to pay in regular instalments by direct debit.
When you pay this way, the total premium is higher than we charge for one annual payment, reflecting the higher costs we experience. Any premium discounts we may provide are applied before these additional costs are calculated.
Your responsibilities when paying by instalments
When paying by instalments:
you must be an authorised signatory on the account nominated for your direct debit payments,
you must ensure that your nominated account can accept direct debits and has sufficient funds to meet each payment at each due date,
your financial institution may also apply its own fees (including dishonour fees). Those fees are your respon
What happens if your instalment remains unpaid?
AAMI may cancel your policy without notice if an instalment payment remains unpaid for one month or more.
Any claims arising after the due date may be refused.
Changing your instalment payments
If you wish to change or cancel your direct debit arrangements, you need to contact us at least seven days before the debit day.
If you cancel the debit completely, you will need to arrange for another way to pay us your premium, to ensure you remain covered.
Important things to remember when paying by instalments
When you first commence your direct debit payments, or when you change your account details, it may take up to 14 days for us to first debit your account.
If you believe that we may have incorrectly debited your account, please contact us on 13 22 44.
When you claim on your policy and we decide that the damage or loss to your building is so severe that it will need to be rebuilt, we will require you to pay the total unpaid balance of your premium before your claim can proceed.
Government taxes and charges
AAMI shows on receipts any government taxes and charges such as GST, Stamp Duty and Fire Services Levy allocation included in insurance premiums.
GST
Any amounts we pay under this policy include GST.
Renewing your policy
When we offer to renew your policy:
we will send you a notice before the policy expiry date,
we will tell you in writing if there are any changes to the policy. Changes that benefit you apply from their introduction. Changes introducing limitations apply from the policy’s renewal,
we may require an additional premium if you make a claim in the short period between the time we calculated the renewal premium and the expiry of your policy. If the additional premium is not paid, we may reduce the period of cover to match the reduced amount paid.
Cooling off period and cancellation
Federal law provides that you can cancel this policy within 14 days of its purchase. AAMI allows you to cancel your policy at any time.
In both cases, we will refund you the unexpired portion of the premium less any cancellation processing charge to cover the reasonable administrative and transactions costs incurred by AAMI. To cancel your policy, please call us on 13 22 44.
We can only cancel your policy by giving you written notice in accordance with the Insurance Contracts Act 1984.
Joint policyholders
When you insure your home in the names of more than one person, each person is a joint policyholder and is able to make changes that we agree with to the policy.
Cover for landlords
We provide a separate policy for landlords who rent their property for domestic residential purposes. Please ask us about the AAMI Landlord Policy.
The privacy of your personal information
We are committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information. That commitment is reflected in the AAMI Customer Charter and in our compliance with the National Privacy Principles. For further information, please visit our website www.aami.com.au or call us on 13 22 44 for a copy of our ‘AAMI and Your Personal Information’ brochure.
AAMI’s Customer Charter
We are committed to always provide you with the highest standard of service. The AAMI Customer Charter is a written document containing service and reporting promises which we are bound to deliver. In fact, we impose a penalty on ourselves if we fail to do so.
This unique Charter was drawn up through consultation with our staff, our customers and industry regulators, and is reviewed annually. Compliance with our promises is independently audited every year and the results are reported publicly.
The AAMI Customer Charter, introduced in 1996 was Australia’s first general insurance customer charter, and indeed, first retail customer charter. The Charter is your guarantee that we’re always striving to deliver the best in customer service.
The AAMI Consumer Appeals Service
If you are unhappy with anything we have told you or done for you, we want you to tell us about it. If we cannot resolve the matter to your satisfaction, other appeal services are available to you. See page 41 for full details.
The General Insurance Code of Practice
AAMI is a signatory to the General Insurance Code of Practice which sets out a commitment by the general insurance industry to raise standards of service and to promote better relations between customers and insurers.
The Code describes standards in areas such as buying insurance, claims handling, responding to catastrophes and disasters, information and education and dispute resolution. Introduced in 1995 with the backing of consumer groups, the federal government, insurers and the Insurance Council of Australia, it was revised in 2005.
More information on the Code, or a copy of the Code, can be obtained from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). You can contact the FOS on 1 300 780 808, toll free, or you can access the Code at www.codeofpractice.com.au