Insurance companies

An obvious avenue you can seek information from would-be insurance companies themselves - insurers such AA Insurance, AMI, State, Tower for your car, house, contents insurance or AIA, Partners Life, Southern Cross for life, and health insurance are all online. If you’re going down this path, do note that there are also a number of lesser-known insurers that you should certainly check out as well such as AMP, Cove, Initio, Protecta and Pinnacle Life as they are certainly giving the well-known insurers a run for their money as they provide very competitive pricing and policies, but perhaps without spending as much as the big insurers are on marketing to get in front of more Kiwis.

The drawback of going directly to shop and compare insurance via insurers’ websites is the time and effort it takes - it can be very challenging. We estimate it would take a consumer anywhere from 30 minutes to hours to enter their information into multiple insurance companies’ websites to get quotes and then to understand the difference in policy benefits across insurers. The first step which is simply comparing premiums is easier but the second part where you are comparing what is covered within policies certainly is very time-consuming and not an easy peasy task. So you ask, how can I make it much easier to compare and shop across insurers? Read on to find out more.

Insurance comparison websites

Outside of going directly to insurance companies, where it can be challenging and very time-consuming to compare and shop for insurance, you can check out a couple of well-known insurance comparison websites. One of the well-known websites in New Zealand is MoneyHub and the other is Quashed. Read on to find out more about how MoneyHub and Quashed are making it easy for Kiwis to shop and compare insurance in New Zealand and what are the various benefits and differences between these two websites when it comes to insurance comparison. 

MoneyHub.co.nz 

MoneyHub is an online website that provides resources and information that tackles  topics from job hunting through to finding broadband, power and as you’ve guessed - insurance. As stated on their website, “MoneyHub is a New Zealand consumer website, dedicated to money saving via in-depth journalistic research and reporting as well as harvesting and presenting public information in an easy-to-follow manner. We believe that the average Kiwi can save money on their yearly expenses by following our guides.” 

Let’s look at MoneyHub car insurance guide to see how it helps Kiwis to compare and shop for car insurance. It starts off with a summary stating they’ve compared quotes across a number of well known brands such as AA Insurance, AMI, State, Tower and Trade Me insurance and also one other lesser known brand which is Cove. They go on to state that Cove and Tower insurance were found to be “the best value car insurers for drivers in most parts of New Zealand”. It also explains a few key car insurance terms such as “Excess”, “Agreed vs Market Value”, the differences between “Comprehensive”, “Third Party, Fire & Theft” and “Third Party” and also “No Claims Bonus”. A table comparing a shortlist of benefits across insurers is also provided alongside two quote examples - one for a 35 year old male with a 2017 Toyota RAV4 and the other a 35 year old male with a 2011 Toyota Corolla. While this provides a rough indication of what it might cost you to get insured, due to the many factors that impact on insurance pricing such as where you live, the type of vehicle you’re insuring, driver’s licence, age, sum insured value, excess selection etc, it will not be very useful when it comes to understanding how much it will actually cost for you to insure your vehicle and how your premiums compare across insurance companies. The car insurance guide is similar to the other insurance guides they have on their website.

Quashed.co.nz

Quashed is an online website and platform solely focused on helping New Zealanders explore, compare, shop and track all their insurance in one place. Quashed mission is to make insurance more accessible, transparent and cost effective for Kiwis. It has been featured by New Zealand Herald, Business Desk, Newshub, Stuff, Fair Go and more.

On Quashed.co.nz, it states that Kiwis save an average of $1,150 or more on insurance with Market Scan. This is generated from data across tens of thousands of quotes in 2023 by Kiwis using their Market Scan feature. You’re probably wondering what Market Scan is? As it gives away in its name - it is featured on Quashed that enables Kiwi to scan across the market (various insurers) easily to compare insurance premiums and policies. Customers enter their information only once and that information is used to retrieve multiple quotes in just a couple of minutes across a number of insurers. This makes the time consuming and laborious task of comparing and shopping insurance very quick and easy. To be clear, it compares both insurance premiums and also policy benefits to understand the differences between covers so consumers know how the policies stack up against their current or others in the market. 

Another unique feature of Quashed is that consumers can view all their insurance information in one place regardless of how many policies they have and which insurance company they have their policy with. They can choose to upload the policy documents and allow the technology to pick up all the key information and present it back on a personalised insurance dashboard or alternatively enter the information manually - which is surprisingly quick and easy. 

More than 90% of Kiwis surveyed do not know how much they are paying across all their insurance, what insurance they have, how much they are covered for etc which Quashed helps with - making it very easy to see how much consumers are really spending on their insurance, how much their premiums are increasing each year and to then help them save money on their insurance via Market Scan. 

There are a few other features such as being able to explore and understand various insurances such as Trauma, Income Protection, Mortgage Repayment insurance and also the more commonly known policies such as comprehensive car insurance vs third party car insurance including fire and theft options. It also provides access to handy tools such as a contents insurance calculator (quick and easy to get a rough estimate of how much you could insure your valuables for), life insurance calculator and also house insurance calculator.

Quashed is completely dedicated to insurance - whether it is car, house, contents, landlord, motorcycle or life insurance. It empowers Kiwis to make better insurance decisions which ultimately keeps them financially protected and along the way helps to save thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on insurance premiums.

MoneyHub insurance vs Quashed insurance

Overall, MoneyHub and Quashed have approached insurance very differently but with similar goals to provide easy access to more information that can help make insurance comparison easier which could help to save consumers lots of money and time when it comes to insurance. 

If you are after actual quotes for your car, house, contents, and other insurances, Quashed is the only platform that can provide that to you via its Market Scan feature. This is unique and different compared to MoneyHub in that it provides you with insurance prices/quotes based on your information in real-time. 

Quashed does require a login to keep information secure and makes it easy to store all your insurance policies and to shop your covers yearly if you choose to. MoneyHub on the other hand does not require a login and provides a much bigger breadth of financial services information across not just insurance but many other areas that could benefit Kiwis including KiwiSaver, mortgages, credit cards, loans, and more.

We’d recommend checking out both sites and making the most of the information and tools available to you. 

Comparing and shopping for insurance is getting easier with more resources and tools available to consumers. Besides, it’s well worth it when you can find savings that could pay for your next holiday or even your next car - as it adds up to a lot over the years especially if it’s been a few years since you’ve compared your insurance.