Home & Contents + Car Insurance

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Oriphix

523 posts

Ultimate Geek

#206179 13-Dec-2016 10:22

Hi all,

Recently I have been revising my outgoings on insurances. I have home and contents + car with ASB (IAG).

I got a quote for car trademe just for a laugh which was $40 per month. Now I checked with ASB and that quote is $60. (my laugh from early turned into a bit of confused look). That's $20 per month difference for the same car and the sum insured.

Now I checked CanStarBlue to check the ratings and it looks like AA is the top in both of these fields. I am a AA member so I am leaning towards this.

http://www.canstarblue.co.nz/banking-insurance/home-contents-insurance/

http://www.canstarblue.co.nz/banking-insurance/car-insurance/

Are any of you with AA for these services? Or perhaps you have another vendor which you find the best?

I am trying to get a list of good vendors so that I can compare policies and then call for quotes.

Wish there was a website that compared all the policies. (similar to the http://www.switchme.co.nz/)

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6019 posts

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Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#1686903 13-Dec-2016 10:22

Hmmmm. Here we go.

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

dfnt

1512 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1686931 13-Dec-2016 10:29

I'm with AA for car and contents, I've had no issues with them

I've had a couple of car claims and 1 contents and the claims process wasn't an issue

kiwiharry

1030 posts

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Subscriber

#1686948 13-Dec-2016 10:41

We have House, Contents and Car insurance through AA too.

Had a comparison done by AMI a couple of months back at the Auckland Home Show, they couldn't beat it.

My insurance broker, who looks after our health and life insurance, didn't bother trying to get me comparative quotes for House, Contents and Car Insurance as he said they offer very competitive rates. This was about 4-5 years ago though.

We've had no issues with 2 x car claims and 1 x tenanted house fire claim (although tenant may beg to differ, as AA were seeking damages from tenant for the cost of fire)

If you can't laugh at yourself then you probably shouldn't laugh at others.

MikeAqua

7782 posts

Uber Geek

#1686950 13-Dec-2016 10:43

Banks typically aren't insurers. They buy and on-sell insurance and clip the ticket on the way through.

Many non-core bank 'products' are like that.

Mike

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#1686965 13-Dec-2016 11:13

MikeAqua:

Banks typically aren't insurers. They buy and on-sell insurance and clip the ticket on the way through.

Many non-core bank 'products' are like that.

It's tighter than that - registered banks are prohibited from insurance underwriting and "material activities of a non-financial nature".

If they're overseas-owned, then they're required to "quarantine" NZ banking business from any exposure to associated non-bank activities offshore.

Geektastic

17943 posts

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#1686974 13-Dec-2016 11:30

We have used AA for some car insurance and still do for one vehicle.

They've always been reasonable when it came to making claims.

However, I note from recent correspondence that they have amended their policy wording and when insurers do that, it usually is not done to make your life better. They used to have "Guaranteed No Claims Bonus For Life" but that has gone now, for example.

invisibleman18

1360 posts

Uber Geek

#1687091 13-Dec-2016 14:00

Always worth getting a few quotes when these things come up for a renewal. I'd been with AA for contents insurance and Toyota for car insurance for 6 years. Had to make one claim with Toyota from a minor incident and they were good, but thankfully haven't needed to make a contents claim yet. Recently moved my banking to the Westpac government employee package just before both came up for renewal and they gave some quotes (you also get a discount as a government employee). Car worked out about $20 a month cheaper for a higher sum insured, and contents was about the same as AA but also for a higher sum insured. Studied the policy documents and there didn't appear to be significant differences in coverage so decided to take both the Westpac offerings.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Oriphix

523 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1687124 13-Dec-2016 15:12

Thanks guys I will check AA.

pctek

807 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1687266 13-Dec-2016 18:59

We have had AA, State and AMI.

State was because of a commercial vehicle at the time. Not keen on them.

AA had a higher value for one of our vehicles but their excess was also way higher.

I also didn't like the house and contents with them much, no free glass and sanitary fixtures for instance.

We've been with AMI the longest and I intend to remain with them.

Had various claims, contents, vehicles, house glass, never had an issue, always prompt and with the vehicle the repair ended up being within $200 of the vehicle value, we thought they'd write it off but no, they fixed it. (happy)

scuwp

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1687296 13-Dec-2016 19:15

Just make sure you are comparing apples with apples. Just because you are insuring the same item for the same value doesn't mean the insurance policy conditions are the same. The one worth $20 more may actually provide better cover. The devil is in the detail, particularly with insurance policies so do your homework.

I have been with AMI for longer than I care to remember. I check annually including with AA and can't find a better policy/value. Strangely AA for us is much more expensive, opposite to other posters experiences.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

tdgeek

29746 posts

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#1687326 13-Dec-2016 20:33

pctek:

We have had AA, State and AMI.

State was because of a commercial vehicle at the time. Not keen on them.

AA had a higher value for one of our vehicles but their excess was also way higher.

I also didn't like the house and contents with them much, no free glass and sanitary fixtures for instance.

We've been with AMI the longest and I intend to remain with them.

Had various claims, contents, vehicles, house glass, never had an issue, always prompt and with the vehicle the repair ended up being within $200 of the vehicle value, we thought they'd write it off but no, they fixed it. (happy)

Excess and free options are surely built into the premium?

Say you had all sorts of cover options. On the surface, option 1 is better than option 2, and 3, but if you look into excess, exceptions, there probably isn't that much in it?

mdf

3513 posts

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#1687339 13-Dec-2016 21:01

What others have said about reading the policy terms and conditions.

We're with Medical Assurance. IMHO hands down the best insurer to deal with, bar none. Super friendly and helpful, always a pleasure to deal with. They are competitive on cost (though usually not the outright cheapest) but make up for it in not actually making it difficult to lodge claims etc.

But (and there's always a but) you have to apply for membership; membership is restricted to certain professions. They used to be limited to medical professionals, but have since liberalised it a bit.

nzkiwiman

2585 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1687516 14-Dec-2016 09:02

I went through every insurer policy details and got quotes from the most of them when I got my new car; there are some pretty major differences between the providers and in the end I went with AA (not the cheapest, but one of the cheaper quotes) and thankfully have only had to claim a windscreen repair so far.

trig42

5811 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1687518 14-Dec-2016 09:05

mdf:

What others have said about reading the policy terms and conditions.

We're with Medical Assurance. IMHO hands down the best insurer to deal with, bar none. Super friendly and helpful, always a pleasure to deal with. They are competitive on cost (though usually not the outright cheapest) but make up for it in not actually making it difficult to lodge claims etc.

But (and there's always a but) you have to apply for membership; membership is restricted to certain professions. They used to be limited to medical professionals, but have since liberalised it a bit.

Never heard a bad thing about Medical Assurance.

Friends had a serious house fire and are with them, they have been brilliant. Nothing too much trouble.

I think there is a Farmers Assurance too? I hear they are really good as well.

Oriphix

523 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1687543 14-Dec-2016 09:28

The biggest policy wording I see mentioned for house is the house isn't covered in natural disasters. So volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis etc

In NZ we have so many active volcanoes and earthquakes are so frequent.

So what happens if you are insurance but you insure doesn't cover that? You potentially have a wrecked house that you still need to pay mortgage on?

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