Just last week, IAG, the parent company of popular insurance brands - AMI and State - made an announcement that came as a surprise to many - they will be closing all their stores. 

More than 50 AMI stores and the remaining State insurance stores up and down the country will be permanently closed. This move made several headlines including "AMI is turning its back on New Zealand communities".

The move away from physical stores by our nation's largest general insurance company signals a shift towards the future of insurance - online, emails and calls. While it is certainly a cost cutting measure on one hand, brought forward by COVID, on the other, it reflects a business evolving in the way it operates to meet the demands of its customers today.

Similar to banking, more people are engaging with their money online and on-the-go, more so now than ever. ASB bank announced yesterday the closure of another nine branches and reducing the operating days of another 25 stores to just three days a week across the country. ASB highlighted that 85% of their personal customers now prefer online and mobile services and since Lockdown, more than 13,000+ customers have used their digital channels for the first time. 

Back to insurance, what does the future experience of insurance hold for us in NZ? It's safe to say that it will be increasingly online and digital.

As a customer, the online insurance experience till now has been lacking - explains why we started Quashed! There is no one place where you can get all your insurance needs sorted.

Most Kiwis between the ages of 30-60s we have spoken to on average deals with three insurance companies and have five insurance policies. If we contrast this with our banking experience, how many of us would want to deal with three banks and have five accounts or more? Even when banks are much easier to deal with when it comes to their online platforms and apps!

Unsurprisingly, in our recent survey only 22% of those surveyed are aware of their insurance situation. 

"It's just too hard when it comes to insurance".

Moneyhub's founder in an interview with Stuff shared that "shopping around could save $1500 a year on life, house and car insurance alone." Even then, many of us don't know where to start or how to get our insurance sorted. Given the average household spends approximately $3,500 a year on insurance (based on 2016 figures from Stats NZ), we think the total savings over our lifetime on insurance could be as much as $30,000 or more if we took active control of our insurance.

The insurance experience today prioritises how insurance companies are setup and the existing systems and processes. Given most systems and processes have been in place for years, our experience as customers are limited to "how it's always been done". 

Not anymore. We're changing that with Quashed!

Quashed is the first of its kind online insurance management tool in New Zealand. It helps Kiwis bring together all their insurance policies into one place, under one virtual roof. Now you can see all your insurance at a glance! Easily make sense of what insurance covers you have and how much you're spending. You'll get a transparent look at how your insurance premiums are changing year on year - spoiler alert: it usually goes up! Looking through our insurance policies, the amount year-to-year can change from the lower end of 5% to as much as 20% or more. How much has your insurance premiums gone up this year?

Get your free Quashed account and see how your insurance can be made simple and transparent.

Be a game-changer alongside us today!