Insurance costs are rising fast: Can you still afford to have home insurance etc?

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257 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3150005 19-Oct-2023 08:59

frednz:

Aucklandjafa: My contents insurance has pretty much doubled - insane. House renews in Jan (not looking forward to that). Strangely enough, my fully comprehensive car insurance has dropped $30 for the year - super-odd. All with AMI too.

That's interesting, have you made any claims on your contents policy recently? I'm not sure if this is correct, but if you've made a few claims, this might increase your "risk profile" and cause your premiums to increase.

Nope, last claim was nearly 2 years ago, even then, AMI's no claim bonus allows for 2 claims in a 12 month period before you lose it.

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jonb

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#3150055 19-Oct-2023 10:11

Wheelbarrow01:

richms:

How old does a vehicle have to be to get antique car insurance where its cheap but you get a limited number of k's per year? With the disuse that my fossil vehicles get and them all being 20+ years that might be a valid option.

I don't think it's necessarily about age although Star insurance considers anything 25 years or over to be a "classic". I have two older (but hardly antique) vehicles insured with Star Insurance as 'modern hobby' vehicles - this means they are not my daily driver but there is no specific limit on how many kms I can drive in them per year (and they didn't ask me to provide odometer readings anyway):

1992 HSV Senator - agreed value $32k - comprehensive premium is $313 per annum.

1988 Hilux Surf - agreed value $15k - comprehensive premium is $231 per annum.

My daily driver (if you could call it that) is a 2011 VW Touareg, insured for $31k with State and the premium for that is currently $996. Personally I think I am being shafted on that as I work from home so it literally sits in the driveway Monday to Friday, and even in the weekends my wife's car is the primary go-to as it's always parked behind the Touareg in the driveway.

Toyota insurance is surprisingly good value, was skeptical when was offered it when getting a vehicle but is sub-$1000 for $60k value and has been stable in 3yrs.

I don't have contents insurance and large excess on House insurance but that still goes up, will very much hunt around when that comes up for renewal in Jan

decibel

277 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3150232 19-Oct-2023 18:10

It's not a case of whether you can afford insurance but rather can you afford NOT to have insurance.

If I had my way, I would write the word 'insure' over every door of every cottage and upon the blotting pad of every public man, because I am convinced that, for sacrifice that are conceivably small, families can be secured against catastrophes which otherwise would smash them forever.

Winston Churchill

decibel

277 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3150233 19-Oct-2023 18:13

MikeB4:

Maybe time for the government to start again a state backed insurance company

Well, of course we did once upon a time.

It was called State Insurance and had the biggest market share before that ratbag Roger Douglas came along and sold it all off.

Now, the current company that calls itself State Insurance is just a money-hungry subsidiary of an overseas conglomerate.

Tinkerisk

3061 posts

Uber Geek

#3150251 19-Oct-2023 19:05

decibel:

It's not a case of whether you can afford insurance but rather can you afford NOT to have insurance.

That's right! And that you have to be able to assess the risk. An insurance company has legions of statisticians who calculate their claims settlement risk. As soon as the risk is calculable for them, they sell you a policy ... but believe me, they always go out the door with more money than they will have to pay out.

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Geektastic

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#3150323 19-Oct-2023 21:51

My camera gear (about $30,000 to replace) was insured within the Pacific region. I needed to change that to worldwide.

Premium increased $800 for the remaining 8 months of the cover period!!

I don’t think anyone would believe how much our house insurance costs.

From talking to people who work in insurance, reinsurers are starting to regard NZ as too much of a risk.

My own feeling is that will see the EQC concept widened to include any and all insurance losses of buildings in order to effectively give the insurers an enormous excess they need not cover that will include a significant majority of claims within it.

The government will be forced to do that by the banks, who will start refusing to lend against property that cannot be insured.

Wheelbarrow01

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Chorus

#3150337 19-Oct-2023 23:38

I've been with State for my home and contents since I purchased the house in 2015. Last year at the annual renewal, I tried to shop around but I was hit with that very specific Christchurch problem - other insurers just aren't that interested in taking you on unless your house was built after the earthquakes, at least not without making you jump through hoops.

One insurer who agreed to do it without too much fuss (Initio) still wanted a building report to satisfy themselves as to any earthquake damage (even though my house was a managed repair by EQC that was audited again a year after the repairs), negating any benefit in switching due to the cost of obtaining said building report far exceeding the amount of any potential saving on the premium. My next renewal with State is in December and by all accounts I can expect a circa 30% hike.

Oh how I long for the halcyon days of 2015 when rates and insurance combined were around $3.5k. These two costs alone have risen to over $6.5k in just 8 short years.

mattwnz

19389 posts

Uber Geek

#3150339 20-Oct-2023 00:28

Yes that is the issue also when buying a house and there has just been an earthquake, (eg in Wellington after the Kaikoura EQ) it can be difficult to get any insurance, and you often have to get the insurance assigned over from the previous owner. I think we may get to the point where some people may not be able to get any insurance company to provide coverage, and when that happens, I suspect the government will have to step in.

Aucklandjafa

257 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3150341 20-Oct-2023 04:29

Bluntj:
MikeB4:

Maybe time for the government to start again a state backed insurance company

When the Government is paying out over 80% of the value of the house to uninsured in cyclones, why bother with insurance at all?

I dunno, maybe if your house burns down? Anyway, I think the govt is only buying out houses in those parts of HB that are now uninhabitable. Ie, even if you did have insurance, they’re not going to rebuild/or buy your house that’s in a red zone area.

frednz

1452 posts

Uber Geek

#3150348 20-Oct-2023 07:24

mattwnz:

Yes that is the issue also when buying a house and there has just been an earthquake, (eg in Wellington after the Kaikoura EQ) it can be difficult to get any insurance, and you often have to get the insurance assigned over from the previous owner. I think we may get to the point where some people may not be able to get any insurance company to provide coverage, and when that happens, I suspect the government will have to step in.

When you get a large increase, say 20% to 30% for insuring your home, the first thing you want to know is whether all insurance companies are charging a similar amount for the equivalent insurance. So, I know people who never used to get comparative quotes, who are now shopping around. But, unless you transfer all your insurances to a new company, you don't get the multi-policy discounts that are available.

Some insurance companies almost invite you to shop around and make you feel that you're very lucky to be insured at all in these times of regular storms and earthquakes etc! I think it's quite important to keep the sum insured at a realistic level because if and when you need to make a claim, some insurance companies work very hard to keep pay-outs to the absolute minimum!

tripp

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#3150367 20-Oct-2023 08:09

It's happening to all insurance, my pet insurance is up 20% (just had the re-new last month).

Senecio

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#3150386 20-Oct-2023 09:29

Insurance is one of those things.

If you think you can't afford to have it, then you sure as hell can't afford not to have it! The cost of it is sickening but you still need it. Perhaps it might be the catalyst for some of us to reduce our material possessions. You don't need to insure something you don't have?

billgates

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#3150390 20-Oct-2023 09:56

We have been with our broker for many years now and their team does an excellent job every year going into the market and getting the best possible policy cover and price for our home, contents, and cars. We just purchased an EV. Through broker quote with NZI was $1794/year with $850 excess for $99k cover. They checked with Vero, Classic cars and Star as well and Classic cars did an agreed value cover for $1388/year on $1000 excess for $99k car.

I checked with trade me, AMI, and AA and trade me quoted $3500/year, AMI quoted $2600, and AA quoted $3800 for same cover

Do whatever you want to do man.

ANglEAUT

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#3150419 20-Oct-2023 11:18

Geektastic: ... From talking to people who work in insurance, reinsurers are starting to regard NZ as too much of a risk. ...

would be interesting to know the details here.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

openmedia

3050 posts

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#3150439 20-Oct-2023 11:48

I switched to Annual Policies with Tower to help bring premiums down a couple of years ago. This year

Home - 23% increase
Contents - 1.26% decrease
2 Cars both fully comprehensive - approx 1% increase

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

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