Yahoo Finance Aussies throwing money away by auto-renewing
A 10-minute search could save you up to $200 a year.
Nearly a quarter of Aussies could be unknowingly throwing money away by auto-renewing their insurance policies.
New research from Compare the Market found 23 per cent of Aussies who held a contents insurance policy let it renew automatically, without checking to see if a better deal was available.
Gen Z were the biggest culprits, with a third of the group admitting they did nothing when their renewal notice arrived.
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Millennials were the most willing to ditch their cover completely (14 per cent), while almost two-thirds of Baby Boomers (61 per cent) were prepared to compare policies to see if there was a better deal out there.
Compare the Market found Aussies could save as much as $223.82 by switching from the highest to the lowest contents insurance on its database. This was based on contents valued at $25,000, with an excess of $500 for a townhouse in Queensland.
General manager of general insurance Adrian Taylor urged Aussies to do their research when they received their renewal offer, particularly in light of rising insurance premiums.
"We would suggest that if people get their renewal notice in their mailbox or inbox, they shop around and evaluate the different policies,” Taylor said.
“A quick 10-minute search could allow people to find a policy that suits their needs, and the price could be less than their renewal premium.”
Taylor also urged Aussies to think twice before cancelling their cover and noted the financial impacts of events like fire, theft or flood-related loss could be extreme.
Set and forget
Contents insurance isn’t the only thing Aussies are guilty of setting and forgetting. Car insurance, mobile phone plans and streaming subscriptions are also commonly auto-renewed.
Research by NAB found Aussies could save $52 a month, or $624 a year, by cancelling streaming and subscription services they no longer found value in.
Young Aussies aged 18-29 were the most willing to reel in their subscription streaming services, with 41 per cent saying they had made cutbacks.
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