An excess is your contribution towards the cost of a claim and is a requisite policy condition. Effectively, the excess is the amount you self-insure. Your cover starts once insured loss or damage exceeds the excess. The excess will depend on the circumstances of the claim.

Some Additional Benefits and Optional Covers have their own excess, in addition to any other excess that may apply. When multiple excesses apply, you might have to pay more than one excess.

The amount and details of each applicable excess is shown on your Policy Schedule. Information on how and when an excess applies can also be found in the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

When you make a claim, and depending on the claim type, you can pay any appliable excesses in one of the following ways:

1. All claim types – you pay directly to us.
2. Repairs authorised - in some instances, and before repairs commence, you pay the appointed repairer or supplier.
3. Cash settlement – the excess is deducted from the claim settlement amount.

You can choose to lodge a claim subject to the terms and conditions of your policy. All levels of our car insurance – including Third Party Property Damage – cover you for loss or damage to another person’s car or property. See PDS for conditions, limits and exclusions.

If you pay an excess upfront and it’s later determined by us that you weren’t at fault, we’ll refund you accordingly if you can provide us the name and address of the at fault driver and registration of the at fault vehicle involved.

To make things simpler for you, AAMI can help you through the whole repair process with our AAMI Approved Repair Partners. You can learn more by reading the PDS.

To join our preferred repairer network, repairers must hold the latest industry qualifications and consistently deliver high standards of workmanship, quality assurance and customer care. This means we only partner with accredited repairers and our authorised repairs come with a lifetime guarantee to give you a little extra peace of mind.

We will cover your transport costs to and from the repairer of your car or a hire car provider. If you arrange your own transport, you will need to pay for the transport cost and provide us with the tax invoice for reimbursement. Refer to your policy documents online via the AAMI App, your AAMI My Account or our policy document hub for further details.

If you’re concerned about the quality of the repair of your car, call us on 13 22 44. For rectification work, take your car back to the original repairer to rectify the repairs. Do not carry out or authorise rectification work without our consent.

Sometimes knowing whether you should make a car insurance claim can be tricky. Check out these common scenarios to help you decide.

If you have comprehensive insurance, your car becomes a total loss if:

• it is stolen and unrecovered after 14 days and we accept your claim for theft of your car; or
• it is uneconomical or unsafe to repair, including where the combined repair costs and salvage value are likely to be more than the amount covered by your policy.

If your car is more than 2 years old, we pay the amount covered less any applicable deductions.

For full details, please download the Comprehensive Car Insurance PDS and Additional Information Guide.

If your car is less than 2 years old, and you're the first registered owner, we'll replace it with a new car of the same make, model and series (if available within 90 days), or similar if not available. If you choose not to accept the replacement car, or where an agreement cannot be reached between us on a replacement car, or a replacement car cannot be supplied, we will pay you the amount covered on your certificate of insurance (less any deductions). See the PDS for full details.