Best Car Insurance Available in NZ

First, you need to decide which kind of insurance you need. For those driving a more expensive car, you should be looking at comprehensive insurance. This covers you when your car is stolen or damaged in an accident, while also covering damage caused by you to other people’s cars or property. This is more expensive but you are sorted for all the problems that can occur. 

If you're on a tighter budget, you might choose to take third party coverage which covers the cost to repair other people's property should you cause an accident. However, the cost of fixing your own car falls to you. It's the most basic form of cover while you can also extend the policy to include fire and theft as well.

There are many different things that can influence the cost of insurance such as your age, your gender, whether you've had an accident in the past, the kind of car you're driving, where you live, where you park your car and how you use it. Generally speaking, younger drivers are deemed a greater risk so the premium will be higher, so too for males, especially those that drive a performance orientated car. Aucklanders will pay more in premiums due to the increased risk of theft and accidents thanks to higher traffic volumes. Parking your car on the road as opposed to off the street in a locked garage will see your premium being more expensive, as will using your car for work purposes. Also, check the sum insured amount, which is what the insurance provider will pay out if they ‘write the car off’ (this happens when the total cost of repairs exceeds the value of the car). Too high of a valuation will increase your premium, but you don’t want to be under-insured either. While a lower sum insured amount will mean a cheaper premium, you won’t have as much money to cover the cost of a replacement if your car gets written off. You can use Trade Me’s value my car feature to find out what your car is worth.