READERS DISCUSS: Insurance premiums rise after Marcia

WHEN she peeled open the Suncorp envelope and pulled out her home insurance renewal letter, Berserker's Susanne Young was stunned.

Suncorp is her home insurance company, and she had been more than pleased with their help when she took out a claim for damages to her house during Tropical Cyclone Marcia.

She lodged an insurance claim for damages to her roof, ceiling, gate and a fuse in her kitchen. She did not know the total cost for those repairs.

Things then took a turn on Monday this week when she opened her latest renewal notice from Suncorp saying her annual premium had gone up a staggering 175%.

We asked readers if they had received their renewal notices and if they had increased. Here are some comments from today's Facebook post:

Jayme Bougoure - I'm in Frenchville, just recieved my renewal from suncorp and had only gone up about $200. Gave them a call and they took $113 off for being a loyal customer. I had claimed $400 food spoilage.
Kerrie Edwards - Mine was similar and I rang them and they look $2000 off the premium. Call them and question it!!!!
Ian Dunbier - Switch to Youi and save a bundle of $
Debbie Bryant - Was happy with my renewal. Only went up $200 which I felt was reasonable. I shopped around and was shocked at some of the premiiums so decided to stay with Westpac for H & C.
Louise Faulkner Law - Guessing there will be a lot more people without insurance now.
Catherine Mylrea Farr - Watch out for that flood map excuse. I questioned it after the early floods over the last few years and got it removed because our house is not actually in flood area but they classed everyone in Rocky area as flood area.
Lou Neilson - Yep happened to us with Suncorp just before the cyclone. Their excuse is because of the new flood levy map the council put out.

Here are some comments from yesterday:

Kieran Powell: My Youi premium went from $890 a year to $1470.82 a year. I rang them about it but they said that was the best they could do. I made no claims ever.
Sarah Pratt: An extra $50 a month.
Sharron Payne: Yes. My house and contents insurance went up from $180 a month to $430 a month. I didn't even receive a letter. I am no longer with Suncorp.
Chantal Webb: I was with AAMI. I was paying $173 a month and it jumped to $684 a month. The only claim I had was a small amount for the cyclone. Apparently AAMI class Rockhampton as a cyclone area. When was our last cyclone... 1983? That was 30-something years ago.