Aotearoa / New Zealand @lemmy.nz NoRamyunForYou @lemmy.nz 1y ago

Home Insurance

We're currently shopping around for some Insurance (House & Contents), and are trying to decide going direct with someone like ANZ (Underwritten by Vero), or using a Broker (Have received some quotes by Rothsbury, as they seemed to be quite widely recommended).

I'm finding prices similar, but ANZ definitely seems cheaper overall.

I had heard that getting insurance through a broker is better, as come time to put through a claim, they will help you through the process, and get paid out faster. Is this really the case?, and so making it worth the higher costs (few hundred more).

17 comments

Been with Initio for a couple years. Were a bit cheaper than AMI who we were with before. Still are last I checked. Never had to make a claim so ymmv
- Huh i've never actually heard of them before. Having a brief read online, there does seem to be polarizing opinions of them, but generally quite a positive review of them.
Check out AA, reasonably priced and known for paying out claims without hassle
- Yeah I did here that AA were pretty good to deal with come claims time.
  
  Though with the slight difference in cost, but mainly due to ANZ's $500 Cash back offering at the moment, thinking of possibly going with ANZ for a year, with the thoughts of changing in a years time - possibly to AA
  
  I used to be with MAS, but have since switched to AA. Mainly because it's cheaper bundled with AA Motor Insurance and AA Membership. But when we had it, MAS was also great, even better coverage than AA, but just a touch bit more expensive.
I have had a great service from FMG (for household and car insurance) clear language, simple processes and reasonable prices.
- Good to know. Will keep them in mind for when we come to renew next year. For now, we've decided to go with our Bank, mainly due to price and the cashback promotion they currently have.
One key point I missed was that ANZ is currently offering $500 Cash Back on New Home Insurance Policies, which brings the difference between Rothsbury and them to just under $1,000 - Talking quite a difference now.
- We tried looking at a broker a few years back, and found the same thing. ANZ was significantly cheaper.
  
  We haven't had to claim at all, ever, so its hard to know if that's an issue. But we set the excess pretty high so we only cover the big stuff, it makes the insurance a lot cheaper and means we don't have to do claims unless something serious happens. If you have a low excess it may well be worth having a broker to do all the paperwork and let you know what is or isn't claimable.
  
  Yeah that was sort of our plan as well. Especially for the Home Insurance, we only envision using it if we have major problems, so (touchwood) we won't be claiming too often.

17 comments