The price of car insurance explained
How we calculate car insurance premiums.
When calculating car insurance prices, we weigh up a number of things. Some are related to you (the driver), like the kind of car you own, where you live and other personal details that help us figure out your risk of having an accident.
Other factors affect everyone equally. Things like smarter cars and increased weather events. Once we've considered everything carefully, we do our best to keep insurance affordable for customers. Check out the video for more on how we calculate car insurance premiums.
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Accident-prone?
The roads can be a risky place, and as an insurance provider, we need to calculate your risk of having an accident so we can work out how much you should pay. Things like your choice of car, your age, and where you live, along with any past claims can all affect your car insurance premium. That's why from year to year, what you pay may change.
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Smart tech. Even smarter mechanics.
Bells and whistles are cool. The latest cars have intelligent features like lane departure warning, parking sensors and collision avoidance. They make our cars snazzier, easier to drive, and most importantly, safer. However, they are costly to repair. All these high-tech extras need expensive parts and skilled specialists to fix them. It costs a lot to keep mechanics up-to-speed, and these costs are adding pressure to insurance premiums.
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Mother Nature. Yes.
She affects your premium.In the last 50 years, New Zealand has experienced well over 150 natural disasters and weather events. Yep, that's a lot. We’re rated as one of the riskiest countries in the world to insure. Plus, with climate change affecting global weather patterns, Mother Nature's not looking like she'll be giving us a break any time soon. So, that means our reinsurance (insurance for insurance companies) has gone up in price, driving up premiums.
Your cover. You choose.
The type of car insurance cover you have is a big factor in how much you pay. In general, there are three levels of cover to choose from.
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Comprehensive
This cover offers the broadest protection and is therefore a popular choice for customers. You get full cover for accidental loss or damage to your car as well as accidental damage to someone else's car.
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Third Party, Fire and Theft
This is often taken out to protect a lower value car while still offering you the benefit of protection from fire, theft, or attempted theft. Plus, if you accidentally hit your neighbour's BMW and it's your fault, we'll pay for your neighbour's repairs.
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Third Party Only
This is the economy option covering you for damage you cause to someone else's car or property, but not your own.
Saving on premiums -
it's doable.
There are a few things you can do to reduce your car insurance premium:
- Review your vehicle value as shown on your policy schedule - your car may be worth less than it's currently insured for
- Review your eligibility for discounts
- Increase your excess amount (what you pay towards a claim)
- Remove additional cover choices from your policy
- Reduce the type of cover
Find out more about ways to save
For help with reducing your premiums, just give us a call.
Our phone lines are much busier than usual, so there may be a long wait.
Did you know you can pay, claim, cancel, and more online? View all online options.
Alternatively, talk to Sam, our Chatbot, who can help with simple insurance questions.