Every New Zealand insurer starts a house quote the same way. What kind of home is it, and who lives in it. Answer that here and you will know which cover you need, and what the rest of the form will ask.
The short version
The three questions
01
A standalone house, a townhouse, an apartment and a bach are insured differently, because the boundary between what an individual policy covers and what a body corporate policy covers moves between them. On an apartment, an owner is often insuring the interior fit-out rather than the structure.
02
This is the question that decides the product. The same building is a house policy when its owner lives in it, a landlord policy when tenants do, a holiday home policy when it sits empty between visits, and a case-by-case referral when nobody lives there at all.
03
Location drives natural-hazard exposure, and natural-hazard exposure has become the single biggest differentiator in New Zealand home insurance pricing and availability. It is matched in the browser against a table shipped with this page, and it is not sent anywhere.
What this tool will not do
This site publishes no premium, rebuild-cost or sum-insured figure, and this tool estimates none of them. A number produced without seeing the building is a guess, and acting on a guess is how homes end up underinsured. Nothing entered here is transmitted, stored, or attached to a link back to this site. The answers stay in the browser and are gone when the tab closes.
Direct or through a broker
The quote stage matters later
A quote looks like a pricing exercise. It is also the moment the disclosure duty is discharged, and that is what makes it consequential.
Questions about previous claims, declined cover and building work are commonly answered from memory in the middle of an online form. A claim at a previous address, or work done by a previous owner, is easy to answer wrongly without any intention to mislead.
What happens:A later claim can be reduced or declined over an answer nobody thought about.
The rating valuation and the purchase price are both to hand at the moment someone is arranging cover, and neither is the rebuild cost. Using one because it is available is one of the most common routes into underinsurance.
What happens:The policy pays to a limit that was never the cost of rebuilding.
On a purchase, the point at which risk passes is set by the sale and purchase agreement rather than by the settlement date alone.
What happens:A gap between one policy ending and the next starting, with nothing insured in between.
Whether any of this affects a particular policy depends on its wording and on the facts, and for consumer contracts on the Contracts of Insurance Act 2024 and the Fair Insurance Code.
FAQ
They ask for the address, the year it was built, the floor area, how many storeys, and what the walls and roof are made of. Then come the history questions. Past claims at the property. Whether cover has ever been turned down or cancelled. Any building work, and whether it had consent. Any damage that is already there. Last is the sum insured, and that number comes from you.
No. We publish no prices and we produce no quotes. The tool names the cover type that fits how your home is used. A quote comes from an insurer, once they have details of your actual property.
Most New Zealand insurers can quote an ordinary house online in a few minutes. That only works if the house fits their standard rules. Anything outside them goes to a person, which takes longer. Common reasons are a real flood or earthquake risk, old brickwork, building work without consent, a recent claim, a very large sum insured, or a house that has been sitting empty.
Insurers price the same house differently because they see the risks differently. They also have different customers to balance out. Pricing house by house has widened the gap, especially on flood and earthquake risk. Two insurers can land a long way apart on one property. It is also why a cheap insurer one year is not always cheap the next.
No. Getting a quote does not change or cancel a policy you already have. A policy only ends when you cancel it, or when it runs out at renewal. If you are switching, the new policy needs to start before the old one ends so there is no gap. Both insurers can confirm the dates.
Usually yes. New Zealand forms routinely ask whether an insurer has ever turned you down, cancelled you, or put special conditions on your cover. It is the kind of thing insurers want to know. Not mentioning it is one of the more common reasons a later claim runs into trouble.
A quote is what an insurer is willing to offer. It lasts a limited time and it assumes what you told them is right. You are only covered once the policy has started and they have sent you the documents. In between, nothing is insured.
References
Natural hazard cover that sits under every house policy.
The Fair Insurance Code, which members are bound by.
The disclosure duty for consumer insurance contracts.
Free, independent dispute resolution where a complaint is not resolved.
Disclaimer
Home insurance is one of the few contracts most households hold for decades and read once. What a policy covers, what it excludes, and what has to be disclosed before it starts all vary between insurers and between versions of the same product, and the wording is what settles a claim. This site explains how the cover generally works so those conversations start from a better place. It is not a substitute for the policy document.
What this site is
An information site about insuring a home in New Zealand. Not an insurer, not a broker, not a registered financial adviser. Nothing here is personalised financial advice or a recommendation about any particular property.
What this site does not do
It publishes no premiums, no rebuild costs and no sum-insured figures, and nothing here estimates one. Those numbers come from an insurer's own calculator or a registered valuer, and getting them wrong is what underinsurance is made of.
What the insurer decides
Whether cover is offered, on what terms, at what price and with what exclusions is decided by the insurer, on the information given to them about the specific property.
Our relationship with Cove
This site refers people to three insurance brands. Cove for most homes, FMG for farms and lifestyle blocks, and AA Insurance for apartments. We receive no commission, fee or payment for any of those referrals, and nothing on this site is sold. No brand can buy a position, a badge or a mention. We are not an insurer, not a broker, and not a registered financial adviser. Nothing here is a recommendation that any brand is right for any particular home. Full disclosure on the partner page.
The policy wording decides
Every description of cover on this site describes what that type of cover generally does, not what any particular policy does. Limits, excesses, exclusions and conditions differ between insurers and change between versions, and the wording issued with a policy is the document that settles a claim.
Four questions, no figures
Nothing you choose here is sent anywhere or stored. Open this as a page instead.
