How to Find the Cheapest and Best Car Insurance in NZ: Your 2025 Guide
Finding the right car insurance in New Zealand can feel like a guessing game. Prices are all over the place, and policy documents are long and confusing. Do you just pick the cheapest one? Or go with the brand you see on TV, assuming more expensive must mean better?
Here’s the first secret: more expensive does not mean better.
You could be paying a premium for a well-known brand, contributing to their large advertising budgets, or simply padding their profits. The "best" car insurance is the one that gives you the right cover for your specific needs at the sharpest price.
So, how do you find it? The answer is simple: you must compare.
This guide will show you how to find the cheapest and best car insurance, and how to do it without spending your entire weekend on the computer.
Part 1: How to Find the Cheapest Car Insurance
Finding the cheapest price is all about getting multiple quotes. We’re not talking two or three—you need to compare at least five or more car insurance quotes to get a true sense of the market.
You might get a quote for $600 from one insurer and $1,200 from another for a similar cover (e.g. Comprehensive). Why the huge difference? Because every insurance quote is unique to you.
Generic information guides can help you shortlist options, but they can also be misleading.
Here's an example: An insurer that’s "cheapest" for a 37-year-old in Auckland's North Shore without an accident can be an expensive option for a 37-year-old in South Auckland with one accident last year.
37 year old male in Auckland (North Shore) driving a 2016 Toyota Aqua. No accidents in the past five years.
Quotes Compared | Providers Compared | Cheapest | Most Expensive | Price Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | AA Insurance, Assurant, Autosure, Cove, Provident Insurance and Tower | Assurant Yearly $995 or $83 monthly | Tower Yearly $2,064 or $190 monthly | Yearly $1,069 or $107 monthly |
37 year old male in Auckland (South Auckland) driving the same 2016 Toyota Aqua with one accident in the last year.
Quotes Compared | Providers Compared | Cheapest | Cheapest option above | Price Difference |
6 | AA Insurance, Assurant, Autosure, Cove, Provident Insurance and Tower | Provident Insurance Yearly $1,186 or $119 monthly | Assurant Yearly $1,774 or $148 monthly | Yearly $588 or $29 monthly |
While Assurant was the cheapest option in the first comparison, their quote is $1,774 yearly or $148 monthly for the second comparison which makes them $588 more costly per year or $29 more monthly more costly than the cheapest option found. Therefore, simple comparison examples such as this one does not provide a useful guide to finding the cheapest option for you.
Your premium is a complex calculation based on your unique risk profile:
Your Profile: Your age, gender, and where you live.
Your Driving History: Your claims history and any demerit points.
Your Vehicle: The year, make, model, and any modifications.
Your Vehicle Usage: How far you drive, whether it's for work or private use, and where your car is parked at night (garage, driveway, or on the street).
The Hard Way vs. The Smart Way to Compare Quotes
The Hard Way: You read a whole bunch of informational guides and then you still have to open five browser tabs for five different insurance websites. You repeatedly type in your name, address, date of birth, driver's licence number, car registration, and answer 10+ questions... five separate times. It’s frustrating, and takes forever.
The Smart Way: You use a platform like Quashed.co.nz. You enter your information just once, and our system instantly gets you real-time quotes from a wide range of NZ insurers. It cuts down the time and effort from an hour to 90 seconds. You can even upload your existing car insurance policy and do a comparison against it.
Part 2: How to Find the Best Car Insurance
"Cheapest" is great, but "best" is what protects you when things go wrong. The best policy is the one that has the benefits you actually need, without making you pay for things you don't want.
This is where you need to look past the price and compare the policy features. Key things to check include:
Type of cover (Comprehensive vs Third Party Fire Theft vs Third Party Only)
Financial strength
Extra benefits:
Snapshot car insurance benefits comparison table
Comprehensive | AA | AMI | Tower | AMP | Assurant | Cove |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Damage to your car | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lost keys | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
Trailer cover | Yes | Add-on | Add-on | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Child car seat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Death cover | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Young Driver | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No for under 21 year old |
For a full and up-to-date policy comparison, use Quashed for FREE.
The Old-School Way vs. The Quashed Way to Compare Policies
This is the hard part. Comparing policy benefits is tedious, and it's where most people give up.
The Old-School Way: You download five different 30-page policy documents. You open a new spreadsheet and start a checklist, trying to compare line by line. What's the limit for new-for-old replacement? What about trailer cover? Does "roadside assist" mean the same thing for both? This process takes hours, and it's incredibly easy to miss a crucial detail.
The Quashed Way: You use a tool that's already done the hard work for you. Quashed has the most comprehensive comparison library in New Zealand.
We don't just show you prices. We help you compare policy benefits, features, and exclusions side-by-side in an easy-to-read format.
And we don't just compare the commonly known providers like AA, AMI, State, and Tower. We help you compare them against other highly competitive options you might not have even heard of, including AMP, Assurant, Autosure, Cove, Provident Insurance, and more.
You can easily see the differences in policy features, saving you the headache of building a spreadsheet and the risk of making the wrong choice. Or, thinking that only the better known brands or more expensive policies are good.
Stop Guessing, Start Comparing
Don't overpay for a brand name, and don't risk being underinsured by just picking the cheapest option. Don't just look at generic information guides that will not give you a good estimate of what you will actually pay.
Finding the perfect car insurance comes down to two simple steps:
Compare 5+ car insurance quotes to find the sharpest price for you.
Compare policy features to find the best value for your needs.
The old way of doing this was a time-consuming nightmare. The new way is to use a single platform that does all the heavy lifting for you.
Ready to find the cheapest and best car insurance for you?
Further reading
Want to explore more about car insurance? Check out these helpful blogs:
Car Insurance Guide: A complete guide to car insurance.
Smart Ways to Slash Your Car Insurance: Tips on cutting costs without losing coverage.
What Car Insurance Covers: Key details on what’s included in your policy.
Comparing Insurance Costs for Top Cars: Insurance costs for popular NZ car models.
Why Is Car Insurance So Expensive?: Understand why premiums are rising.
Choosing the Best Car Insurance: Factors to consider when picking a policy.
Sorting Out Your Car Insurance Renewal: Tips to avoid overpaying at renewal.
Car Insurance Quotes Explained: Get accurate quotes with confidence.
Electric Vehicles and Insurance: Do EVs cost more to insure?
Debunking Car Insurance Myths: Common myths that could cost you.
