[Familyofmonkeys]

I thought people who have yet to make the move to have some idea how much car insurance costs in different areas of NZ.....

Mitsubishi Grandis (7 seater) fully comp in Auckland aprox $750 annually

Moving to rural Canterbury next weeks and getting a refund for almost half of the premium :D


I didn't realise there was THAT much difference between different areas......

[YouMeAndThree]

Wow, what a result!:nice1

[The Devoneers]

Wow, that's a good saving.

When we were in NZ earlier this year our son had my husband put on his insurance for us to use his car and we were most surprised that there was no charge. This wouldn't happen in the UK.

[jackie m]

Our insurance is with AMI & it covers anyone over 25 to drive our cars :nice1

[victoria24]

Our insurance is with AMI & it covers anyone over 25 to drive our cars :nice1

me too

[mikey and tor]

wow, can you tell me what the name of the insurance is?

[James 1077]

Our insurance is with Westpac and is the same - anyone over 25 can drive the car. There is a greater excess when drivers who haven't held an NZ licence for more than a year drive the car but not all that much.

[Jo Jo]

Our insurance is with Westpac and is the same - anyone over 25 can drive the car. There is a greater excess when drivers who haven't held an NZ licence for more than a year drive the car but not all that much.

We used to be insured via State, and our policy was the same, and we are now insured via the AA, and, again, the policy is the same. Is this standard in NZ for car insurance policies?

[Familyofmonkeys]

Is this standard in NZ for car insurance policies?

It does seem to be with all the main insurers we checked out last time our policy came up for renewal. We're with the AA and again it's anyone over 25, but the excess for non-NZ drivers licence is increased to $400.

[Leo]

D'oh! I recently signed up with AA and the excess for Non-NZ Drivers Licence holders seems to be NZ$800 :o

May anyone who's got AA Car Insurance confirm this? Would you also recommend signing up as an AA member to benefit from the 6 FREE roadside rescue call-outs per annum?

It has also been brought to my attention that the said roadside rescue benefit does not apply in the event of a self-induced accident... D'oh! :uhoh

[Familyofmonkeys]

D'oh! I recently signed up with AA and the excess for Non-NZ Drivers Licence holders seems to be NZ$800 :o

May anyone who's got AA Car Insurance confirm this?

Not sure but we've been with AA since we got here as they would give us our full 5 years no claims discount from UK, and were cheapest at the time when we still used our UK licences. I know you have the option of paying more to reduce the excess.......not sure wether we agreed to do this or not, but our excess for non-NZ is defo $400. And also once we got our NZ licences, we got about a refund on our insurance premium that year.....something like $80. We did have to ring up and ask about this though.....glad we did :)

[Jo Jo]

I've just looked through my policy, and can't see anything about an additional excess for drivers on overseas licenses, but I went to the AA site and did a quick online quote, and if one of the named drivers on the policy has an overseas license then it does look as though the excess is $800 (i.e. the $400 standard excess plus and additional $400 for the overseas license).

[batgirl1001]

Our grandis was fully insured paying $607 per annum with AA when we were living in Bucklands Beach. Moved to the North Shore near Takapuna and we ended up paying $8 more to top up. Apparently more car thefts in Takapuna as explained by AA.

[Leo]

On the same topic, Fintel seems to be revving up the Insurance market with competitive offers... Any feedback those amongst us who've insured with Fintel?

[coopers]

we have all our insurances with BNZ, got some discount that way. Just added my 15 year old daughter to my insurance...it did not change the fee, but the excess for her is $1500. I have an old 4wd truck for fishing $140 a year 3rd party. Insurance is cheap...well seems so in christchurch.

[Kiwi Mac]

I have a full work policy for a 2005 Toyota Landcruiser 4.2 Diesel and it costs $1100 a year.

However, I can (and do) use the vehicle for work, can allow any employee (if I had any!) to drive it and so on.

I used to do this under an AA policy but decided that they probably did not really understand what I meant when I explained that I used it "for work" so got a policy that specifically covered that sort of use. Costs more but at least I know they won't try and avoid a claim because I was "at work" or something!

[pamg9]

Is it compulsory to have car insurance in NZ? I know in UK it is. But in SA it is optional.

[IanW99]

Is it compulsory to have car insurance in NZ? I know in UK it is. But in SA it is optional.

No it isn't compulsory.

Ian

[Kiwi Mac]

But worth bearing in mind that - if you have a decent motor - most people who crash into it are unlikely to have sufficient personal assets to pay your repair bill (or write off cost) if they are not insured, so you would end up claiming on your own cover - so usually best to have it!

In a country where the average income is around $40,000, not many can pay to replace your $120,000 BMW or whatever!! Even repairs can be expensive - a small ding in the back of an Audi I had cost $7,000 to repair! And it was a very small ding.

[Super_BQ]

We've recently switch car insurance to AMI. Our original insurer was with Toyota Insurance that offered (at the time) cheap premiums. For an '06 Yaris, I could not believe AMI was $100 cheaper than Toyota Insurance. I think what surprised me was the premiums can increase considerably since last year - otherwise I would not of bothered to call around other insurance providers.

BQ

[GrumpyGoat]

I just changed our insurance today. I found that Tower was the cheapest (by far) until I talked to Fin Tel.

Fin Tel is owned by Tower and offers the same policies except they eliminate the under-25 drivers from our policy and only allow listed drivers to drive the car. (which is pretty standard by american standards).

Fin Tel was $150 p.a. LESS than Tower (and Tower was less than most--but only slightly less than AA)

Honestly, I felt a bit silly calling around looking for cheaper quotes when a WHOLE YEAR of full coverage in NZ is about half of my MONTHLY US auto insurance premium!! And the deductible (called excess here??) is HALF as well.

So many things are MUCH more expensive in NZ--I just LOVE when things are LESS!!:raebanana

[sean90291]

That's good advice. We'll be buying a car in the next couple months, and have little knowledge of the car insurance landscape.

[chocolate cake]

I just changed our insurance today. I found that Tower was the cheapest (by far) until I talked to Fin Tel.

Fin Tel is owned by Tower and offers the same policies except they eliminate the under-25 drivers from our policy and only allow listed drivers to drive the car. (which is pretty standard by american standards).

Fin Tel was $150 p.a. LESS than Tower (and Tower was less than most--but only slightly less than AA)

Honestly, I felt a bit silly calling around looking for cheaper quotes when a WHOLE YEAR of full coverage in NZ is about half of my MONTHLY US auto insurance premium!! And the deductible (called excess here??) is HALF as well.

So many things are MUCH more expensive in NZ--I just LOVE when things are LESS!!:raebanana

I'd guess one of the main reasons it is less expensive that it needs to cover less than typical UK/US insurance cover - medical costs for instance.

[batgirl1001]

I guess FINTEL pays less for car insurance but I found out they charge more for housing insurance. About $130 more which is quite a big difference.

You definitely need to shop around for the best insurance and that includes looking at the coverage and excess.

So far I've looked at AA, FINTEL and VERO (through ANZ). Leaning towards AA since I can get discounts for having car insurance with them.

[GrumpyGoat]

Actually, I also priced contents insurance at the same time as our auto insurance. This is not full homeowner's coverage since we are renters--only covers contents.

On home contents, Fin Tel was $10 higher p.a. than the lowest offer (which was Tower) but since we were saving $150 on auto insurance, I was okay with a net savings of $140 on moving everything to them for the package deal.

I was very careful to compare like for like. I worked in the financial and insurance industries for a number of years so I am pretty good at comparing policies. :cool:

[GrumpyGoat]

I'd guess one of the main reasons it is less expensive that it needs to cover less than typical UK/US insurance cover - medical costs for instance.

And the lack of litigation!!!

I can't say I miss the "ambulance chaser" lawyer TV ads running all day on the TV!!:laugh

[richard]

AMI gets my vote too, they were $50 less than the AA for my car and $190 on my wifes!

[constablechuck]

I found AA to be slightly cheaper than State. The nice thing about AA Car Insurance is they don't ask about or consider traffic infringements when calculating the premuim unless it was serious enough to result in a suspension or disqualification. State will jack up your premium for any infringements.

Also, I got a new Honda Jazz the other day and with with Honda Insurance for $480 p.a., they don't ask about or consider traffic infringements when calculating the premuim either.

On a side note, I was amazed that Honda could offer a full maintenance 45 month, 63,000 km lease for only $483 per month. My only responsibility is to pay for the fuel and insurance, that's it.