Insurance premiums for house, car and contents up by 51% over past three years - insurance comparison website Quashed

House, car and contents insurance premiums have increased 51% over the past three years, according to insurance comparison website Quashed.

Quashed lets people upload their insurance policy documents so they can easily read about detailed information on their plans, costs and renewal dates. At least 65,000 people have used the platform. The website also has a comparison tool which analyses and compares different insurance policy options. 

Insurance data from Quashed’s 2025 first quarter (Q1) report shows general insurance - Quashed considers this one house, one contents and one comprehensive car insurance policy - has increased by 51% compared to 2022’s first quarter.

House insurance premiums jumped 53% while comprehensive car insurance premiums increased by 56% and contents insurance premiums went up by 39% compared to the first quarter in 2022.

But compared to last year’s first quarter, house insurance premiums were up 2% to $2841, comprehensive car insurance premiums were down 3% at $1271 and contents insurance premiums had decreased by 2% to $832. General insurance did not see a change at $4944.

Breaking it down regionally

The average house insurance premiums in Wellington was more than twice the cost compared to Auckland - with the capital seeing a 14% year-on-year change going from $4025 to $4589.

Auckland’s average house insurance premium had been bumped from $1991 to $2111 - going up 6% year-on-year, while Canterbury saw a 3% decrease moving from $2852 to $2757.

When it came to comprehensive car insurance premiums, Wellington saw a 2% year-on-year increase moving from $1171 to $1196. Auckland and Canterbury regions both saw a 3% decrease year-on-year - Auckland moved from $1549 to $1508 and Canterbury saw a drop from $1236 to $1202.

In Wellington, average contents insurance premiums had decreased year-on-year by 11% - going from $1203 to $1069. But this remains higher than what people on average are paying in Auckland and Canterbury.

Auckland saw a 3% decrease year-on-year, from $752 to $732, while Canterbury had a 2% bump up in average contents insurance premiums year-on-year from $822 to $836.

'Insurance has gone up significantly'

Quashed's chief executive Justin Lim says insurance premiums have climbed significantly in the past three years. 

And while some high insurance premiums were starting to level off this quarter compared to this time last year, New Zealanders are still being hit in the pockets, he says. 

Quashed data also shows Wellington's house insurance premiums continue to rise and it was roughly more than two times more than in Auckland. It is interesting, Lim says, to see that regional break down especially with Auckland and Canterbury levelling-off. 

Users in Wellington had been emailing Quashed to share their frustrations. "We've seen some pretty big numbers - $10,000 and above for a million-dollar property. Those are big numbers if someone's on an average income." 

"From a user or customer perspective, I can definitely appreciate where they're coming from - the frustration that they see in terms of these massive hikes. When you've not had to make a claim for years on end and then you see your bills jump ... it is pretty hard to swallow that."

New Zealanders more open to exploring insurance providers they've never heard of

Lim says the platform has noticed consumers are a lot more interested in exploring companies that are outside of the main insurers. 

A lot more people are clicking through to these insurers and purchasing policies from them, he says, and when using the Quashed platform, users are adjusting their sum-insured levels more actively.

"They are playing around, trying to see if they can save and they probably self-insure a little bit more ... in terms of taking on more of that risk themselves, looking at whether they can adjust up their excess levels." 

Quashed has 11 insurers on board and it’s looking to add two more soon. Quashed has $1 million in investment from Turners Automotive Group, which represents a 13% stake in the company.