The average New Zealand household with a car, contents and home insurance policy can now expect to pay more than $5000 a year on their premiums, according to insurance comparison website Quashed.
And households with two or more cars could expect to pay more than $6000 a year in premiums.
Quashed lets people upload their insurance policy documents so they can easily read about detailed information on their plans, costs and renewal dates. Over 80,000 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 second quarter (Q2) report shows general insurance - as measured by Quash's model house, one contents and one comprehensive car insurance policy - has gone up 6% compared to a year ago, with people paying an average premium of $5154.
This is a year-on-year difference of $274 with the average general insurance yearly premium sitting at $4880 last year.
Compared to the second quarter of 2022, house insurance premiums jumped 47%; general insurance and comprehensive car insurance premiums went up 45%; and contents insurance premiums increased by 40%.
That's a three-year cost increase of $1610, made up of house insurance, up $978; comprehensive car insurance, up $386; and contents insurance, up $246.
Compared to last year’s second quarter, house insurance premiums were up 12%, to an average of $3055. That's a year-on-year difference of $330.
Meanwhile, comprehensive car insurance premiums were down 6% at $1236 - a year-on-year decrease of $81 - and contents insurance premiums had increased by 3% (a year-on-year difference of $25) to $863.
Regionally
Canterbury saw the highest increase when it came to house insurance premiums, compared to Wellington and Auckland.
Canterbury’s average house insurance premium went from $2633 to $3110 - an 18% increase year-on-year.
Wellington saw a 13% year-on-year increase, with the average home insurance premium going from $4263 to $4797, while Auckland saw a 7% jump, from $2052 to $2198.
When it came to comprehensive car insurance premiums, Canterbury saw a 6% year-on-year fall, moving from $1220 to $1148.
Wellington wasn’t too far behind, decreasing 5% year-on-year, with the average car insurance premium shifting from $1187 to $1126.
Meanwhile Auckland saw a 4% decrease year-on-year with the average car insurance premium moving from $1544 to $1479.
As for the average contents insurance premiums in Canterbury, there was a 6% increase year-on-year, going from $889 to $939. Auckland fell 3%, from $738 to $714.
In Wellington, average contents insurance premiums had seen no major change year-on-year, going from $1128 to $1131 - but this was higher than people on average are paying in Auckland and Canterbury.
Flow through
Quashed chief executive Justin Lim says given the past few years, it’s unsurprising to see premiums still rising.
While it was good to see a small dip in terms of car insurance costs compared to a year ago, house insurance has climbed 12%, Lim says.
With a spotlight on house insurance at the moment and insurers moving towards risk-based pricing, “we’re seeing all that flow through”, he says.
Lim says it pays to shop around. Using Quashed as an example, people found cheaper house insurance 60% of the time, saving $741 on average.
Users also saved with cheaper car insurance 84% of the time and with contents insurance 73% of the time, he says.
“What that suggests is price differentials across insurers … so if consumers are actually looking around, the quantum of savings can be much bigger, which is a silver lining.”
Quashed has 12 insurers on board and it’s looking to add one more in the next month.
Turners Automotive Group has a 13% stake in Quashed after investing $1 million.
19 Comments
We pay $4200 with two cars. I wonder if many people are over insured?
JJ. If you are talking about vehicle insurance the sum insured is these days mostly stated as just 'market value', no dollar value. So you can't reduce premiums by slashing the amount insured.
Kids driving pushes up big time but you need it they may hit someone
real life CPI is so high. Before butter and mince
we need an effective price inflation. Number based on real households
~$2500pa for Home, Contents & 2 cars (1 is 3P only). $1000 excesses on all policies. TradeMe/Tower.
Thats really cheap how many sq m is your home ?
~150m2. Nominated insured value $750k. Contents $30k Car $25k,
Nah I mean the house and especially contents. I reckon we could almost do without contents TBH. Also excess.
Insurance pricing has been historically highly cyclical. Reinsurer returns are currently ballooning which will significantly increase future capital inflows and should reduce the cost of same. The NZ market is however captive to the price set by their Aussie insurer parents for the RI programs we need. Complicated actuarial calculations are carried out to determine the 'fair' allocation price for each of the two markets but the extent to which these are tactical transfer pricing exercises vs a credible data and evidence based calculation is unknown to we mere mortals.
You seem overly optimistic the insurers will pass on the lower premiums to consumers. Is there any data to reflect what you assert? Not challenging you, just genuine interest.
I1234. Not sure I suggested the reduced cost of RI would be reflected in lower premiums for domestic consumers. Much of the reduced input costs end up being captured in increased insurer profitability and reserves restoration, at least for a period. Unlike commercial insurance where there is genuine competition resulting in actual retail rate decreases as markets soften. It may not feel like it to those currently receiving eye watering increases but I suspect the emerging trend is one of moderating reinsurance costs (assuming no unanticipated significant increase in catastrophe events) which in NZs duopoly market will translate into just a steadying of domestic premium rates. This trend however will continue to be partly obscured by insurers scrambling to fully deploy risk based pricing, fearful of having the risk profile of their underwriting book increased through being outmanoeuvred by more canny fleet footed competitors. If you are in a higher natural hazard area you are also in the insurer front line battlefield zone where some of the weapons are still in the development phase.
My Wellington place is $9k and thats with the highest possible excess
Jesus wept! Is it made of gold or something?
There's a lot of GIB so gold might be cheaper aye
WGTN seems to have been hit hard for risk based pricing
High winds, slippy land, earthquake prone, old pipes. High risk indeed.
And if all that doesn't get you, down on the flat the resultant tsunami will, people in Petone paying $900 a month.....
at $207 per week it's like a body corporate fee, these places may value like leasehold one day
I1234. Add high(ish)rainfall, then consider the combination of waterlogged hills and a major fault shift. The ChCh EQ occurred in Feb, the city's driest month and landslip was still a major issue.
Aye. A great city in it's own way with so much variety. Glad I left it, but there were many good years
And for many years there's been cross-subsidisation of less risky to more risky regions. I wonder how that was ever justified
And for many years there's been cross-subsidisation of less risky to more risky regions. I wonder how that was ever justified
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