QBE removes Fire Service/Emergency Service from Motor Vehicle Policies from 1st July 2016.

 

QBE posted the article below:

The NSW Government has announced it will abolish the NSW Emergency Services Levy (ESL), also known as the Fire Service Levy (FSL), on insurance policies in favour of a property levy to be paid alongside council rates from 1 July 2017.
The government considers this a fairer model for funding fire and emergency services.

As a result of this change, QBE policy holders will pay FSL on any affected policy renewals made up to and including 30 June 2017. FSL will not be payable by policy holders for new business or renewals from 1 July 2017.  This applies to all relevant QBE policies where insurance cover is provided in NSW.

Over the next financial year, we intend to taper our FSL collection rates until we reach a 0% rate across our relevant products by 1 July 2017.  We will monitor our rates over the transition period, reviewing them at regular intervals to ensure we collect the right amount.

Based on the current market and to ensure we are able to meet our FSL collection obligations, QBE has estimated that an increase in levy rates will be required for any new or renewal business from 1 June 2016.

These rates are:
 

Product Rate
Commercial property 40%
Domestic property 23%
Commercial motor  1%


NSW Treasury will provide a document communicating specific detail about the removal of FSL which will need to be provided to policy holders as part of the relevant legislation. This is expected to take place in the coming months and we will continue to keep you updated about this.

https://comms.qbe.com.au/pub/pubType/EL/pubID/zzzz570b06470bfb7959/nc/zzzz5731847847fbd021/interface.html