While a form letter is better than nothing, an original letter will get a
much better reaction. Copy the content from another letter if you must, but
put it in your own words. Write to the relevant minister(s) and also your
local member.
Some background:
We are talking about compulsory THIRD PARTY insurance, i.e insurance that
only covers injury to people other than the 'at fault' rider. While many
companies also include cover for the 'at fault driver', motorcyclists are
typically excluded (in the fine print) under this part of the cover.
The change from 3 classes of bikes to 5 classes is the result of work with
the MAA by the MCC to make premiums better reflect actual claim data. The
reduction in premiums for the class including 750-1000cc bikes relative to
the largest capacity bikes reflects this change. However I don't understand
why there is a huge increase for the new class including 250's. The big part
of the third party insurance risk for bikes is pillion injuries, I wouldn't
have thought there would be a lot of expensive third party claims from this
class.
The NSW Motor vehicle Accident Authority (MAA) sets a premium and the
companies can charge up to 10% below this price or up to 35% above this
price. How the MAA comes to its pricing is unclear and the actual claim data
is considered commercial in confidence information. This means getting to
the truth of risk versus premiums is very difficult.
A couple of potential solutions to the problems? :
Re-establish the NSW government owned insurance office (as in the original
GIO) - either for all CTP insurance (as occurred originally) or as a true
competitor in the market.
Introduce no fault CTP insurance cover - the insurance risk is spread evenly
across all drivers and riders.
Single seat motorcycle insurance. I.e bikes that don't have a pillion seat
or can be made single seated are registered and insured as a single seater.
This is can be done in some other states and reduces insurance premiums for
those bikes.
Sean
