Paul,
You also have to look on the amount of people that have car insurances, vs people looking for kiting insurance. Premiums are also calculated on demand, and available competition in the marketplace, to provide a competitive price. If there are only a small handful of insurers prepared to underwrite a policy, there isnt much competition, so prices stay higher.
I agree that AKSA, should provide more details on the types of claims, that have been claimed. ss this would provide people with greater understanding, to minimise risk. Insurance is all based on a risk assessment, and at the moment mitigating problems cant occurr without learning from previous mistakes, errors or accidents.
KR
I see in AKSA's profit and loss last year they paid out $116,630.00 under insurances, is this the premium alone? I also understand about the number of people driving cars, but there are obviously a lot more claims from car drivers and I would guess a lot more very expensive third party, fire and theft claims.
Hey Paul
Ur compulsory 3rd party (paid with your rego) doesnt include fire & theft or property damage. Just personal injury to other parties - your KSA insurance covers this and includes damage to others property.
If you are talking optional 3rd party insurance on your car then this wouldnt include the personal injury liability that your KSA membership offers.
So no real comparison can be drawn bw the 2 as no-one knows what proportion the compulsory 3rd party takes out of your annual rego fee.
In assessing annual premiums insurers also look at existing unresolved claims. If there is a pending liability they will cover for it without regard to the chances of the claim/s being paid in full. Apparently this allocation is a statuatory requirement on insurers so you cant even argue the point that some claims may be frivolous or over-the-top. If there are outstanding claims these probably add to the premium more than actual pay-outs. I know at the time AKSA was advised of the massive increase it was more to do with unresolved lodged claims than the few which had been paid & settled.
No Puppet, I am not talking about Rego 3rd party, I am talking about your own personal 3rd party fire and theft that you can take out with an insurance company if you opt out of Rego, like I have, as there are cheaper, better options.
i take back everything i have said about the insurance . Just got a quote from WFI for third party cover and personal injury cover for kite surfing and they quoted me $800 per year 
You have to look at it this way and from a non kiter/insurance company's side of things. We are going to the beach on a day that allot of people would stay away because of the wind. We put a huge kite in the air, attach it to ourselves and let it drag us up and down the beach in the water. They look at the risk side of it which is probbly not much different to driving a car at 100km's up the highway but they all do that and wouldnt relate to what we do. Under these circumstances and with the small population who do it, the insurance is dam cheep. It cant be compared to windsurfing or really any other water sport. and imo we are lucky they insure us at all.
Nothing against the $65 for insurance.....
However as someone who does not compete, I'm not
clear where the other $60 go and what I'm getting out of it
And don't tell me about keeping the beaches open now.
This is mostly done by local kiters and the local kite industry (schools,shops).
Some volunteer from KBV attending is welcome, but does
not justify all members paying $60..
What's about the option, buying the insurance for $65 only ?
More people buying it should reduce premiums and help everyone...
Id rather pay the extra knowing im covered by insurance in the event something seriously goes wrong one day and i injure someone else. I dont want to be 60 and still paying of medical bills for someone i injured when i was 20 or 30.
Im also lead to believe AKSA has already looked around for something cheaper and this was the best they could find. Good insure these days is hard to find and insurance companys are covering their asses big time. I work for the Rail industry and the minute u mention rail the insurance premiums triple, and given Kiting is labeled an extreme sport id suspect we get the same sort of treatment.
This also highlights a need to self regulate to protect ourselves and our beach access. With every insurance claimed lodged the AKSA yearly premium will increase which will then be passed onto us, the general kite community. So if u see someone who doesnt know what they are doing, or is doing the wrong thing, give them a hand or politely clue them into the ramifications of their actions.
PS just a thought but dbabicwa if you think $125 is so unreasonable how about u investigate and find something cheaper and let us all know what u find.
Hey fairly new to kiteboarding and have been looking into joining. If the insurance premiums double shouldnt the membership be around the $90-95 mark...what is the idea behind doubling the other side which goes to the assoc's??
Why couldnt there be a joe blogs membership mainly just insurance and then one for those who wish to do events ect?
that's a pretty steep rise , maybe aksa could of explained the reason for it a little more clearly to us all before doing it.
However when I'm on the water I don't want a potential $100 000 law suit in the back of my mind while I'm zoned out and enjoying my session.( and I won't mention how close I got to that swimmers head when he popped up from underwater last summer, and yeah I was at FULL speed!!!!!!!!!!)
So if I wanna boost off waves at my local beach where the general public think it's exciting to swim amongst the kiters despite hundreds of meters of safe beach to use (basically Scarborough beach stretches from Trigg rocks right down to Cottosloe - that's gotta be over 15k's) , then I'll cut down on my off season beer intake and find a lousy $120 and PAY THE INSURANCE !!!!!!!!!
Pay the insurance. Dont pay the insurance. Kite. Dont kite. The choice is totally yours. It is what it is and there is noting anyone can do about it except the insurance company them self. By the way have you found anything cheaper yet?
34 cents a day for that sort of public liability is pretty good value in my books.....even if you only kite for 3 months a year....$1.40....If that is too much then perhaps finding another sport would be an alternative for those suggesting its too expensive/ moaning about the increase...Ill be paying up!!!
I get it fine mate. Us kiters are a small minority compared to some sports. We practice a pretty dangerous activity at times. You and i might know what we are doing but it only takes one person with little experience who are entitled to the same insurance as us to take out a joe public and it will go up again. If anything we should maybe have to fill out a form of some sort to give our experience and be charged on that basis. Just like getting a rating for driving. But at the end of the day it still is not that expensive when you look at the sport from the outside in.
I personally don't think the price is to high, the 100% increase is a bit steep though.
BUT there are cheaper ways of insuring for public liability and for some of us it won't cost you a cent more!
Read through your House & Contents Insurance policy. Mine covers public liability anywhere in Australia and NZ for up to $20Million "kite designed to be held by a person on land or attached to a watercraft (e.g. a surf kite)" I double checked and they confirmed it's kite surfing.
So why should I take out an insurance with AKSA if a get double the cover with my current insurance without spending a cent more?
Sure, the main reason is to support AKSA, the state associations, to keep the beaches open etc. and I'm fine with that and would be happy to pay for an AKSA only membership but that's still not available.
This issue has been raised with AKSA over the past few years on this forum, people have suggested that there should be AKSA only membership and an AKSA & PL Insurance, but to my knowledge there is still no such option available.
So the whole argument of supporting AKSA and the local association goes a bit down the drain if people are not been given any options.
AKSA?
One problem with that Jev is that to run events - even social days there is a requirement that all participants are insured. It would be a logistical nightmare to inspect everyones private insurance arrangements.
Councils also like to know that the insurance coverage is appro for Australian claims and that any litigation is not confined to offshore courts. (many insurers have those clauses)
Only way for the KSA's to be able to guarantee appro cover is to have one policy which can be sited and checked by the councils. They also, almost invariably, ask that they be listed on the policy specifically as parties of limited liability acknowledged by the policy.
Beach access is inevitably going revolve around the need for councils to be assured that ALL kiters on the beach are suitably insured. A single policy Aust. wide will be the only acceptable option to the powers that be.
Good logical thinking Jev but just not possible.
I really cant see why this issue creates such angst. The AKSA is now a confederation of all state KSA's administered by a board of one volunteer rep per state. The states use the AKSA to combine forces on any matter they control which can be best handled by a central body. The only outgoings of your money from AKSA is directly back to the states and to mutually agree agents engaged to undertake tasks which need to be handled efficiently and effectively by professionals who are not distracted by having limited time to act eg - sending out memberhip tags etc.
I was on the inside for a long long time and can assure everyone out there that whilst our state & national KSA's are young and evolving they are 100% member oriented. They are moving in very positive ways, under the control of every voluntary state c'tee and every voluntary state c'tee member, to do whatever is identified to make our sport as enjoyable & as safe & as free & as professionally administered as possible.
My personal opinion is that supporting your state KSA (and protecting yourself) should be a top priortiy of EVERY kiter. After all you are talking about one annual fee that is less than the cost one night out on the slops - way less than for most of us 
.
Its a no-brainer.
.
All of these comments and not 1 from waveslave
come back and play pete, same old boring blah blah
we need some wise words of wisdom
Would be a good idea for renewing members to get a reduced rate that way you would be more inclined to keep people signed up and steady members?
The smartest way for WAKSA to greatly increase their membership would be for kitesurfing to be massively restricted by Local Authorities.
That would mean kiters would need a WAKSA-brand insurance ticket for them to ride.
That's the evil masterplan.
They are working on this right now.
*wink
I still think it's cheap it's not even the cost of a good night out
I think Aksa should have a 3 month membership for newbs doing lessons the schools could sign them up and collect $ it would help raise revenue and that may help keep membership low
