Best deal on home insurance - brokers or going direct?

[mrsaneperson]

Just wanted to know what everyone's experiences were out there particularly people in situations like myself who have have multiple rentals ?

Can a broker secure a better deal than simply going direct to one of the main insurance companies?

House insurances are at skyrocketing premiums - i am looking at basic ""economical"" cover .

Can anyone recommend a broker they use that they are happy with and feel that person is giving them a competitive edge over going direct ?

[Anthonyacat]

I am not sure how much of a price-edge I'm getting, but am very happy with my broker Chris Lane - [email protected]

The prices he gets are acceptable, and it's wonderful not worrying too much about shopping around. Saves a lot of time.

Haven't been with him for years and years yet, so don't know how well he'll do for me on reviewing premiums, or if he just rolls things over.

[Perry]

Crombie Lockwood often gets a mention, on PT.

Whether direct or through a broker, it's who you're dealing with in a claim that counts. A broker will usually take a lot of the stress out of dealing with a claim, so the insured-through-a-broker gets that benefit.

I have found that a broker is better at arranging insurance that requires the flexibility to manage something a little out-of-the-ordinary, because of some unusual requirement by the insured.

[Nick G]

Define best deal. Is it lowest possible price? Or are you wanting some value add and expertise. I work with Chris Lane too and will never ever ever go back to buying direct.

[mrsaneperson]

Define best deal. Is it lowest possible price? Or are you wanting some value add and expertise. I work with Chris Lane too and will never ever ever go back to buying direct.

I guess its a bit of both worlds : best price along with good protection of few clause outs if any for the ""bigger"" events.
The problem we have in NZ is that there is little competition on insurance premium pricing since there are effectively only 2 insurance companies. Everyone is under either 1 of 2 umbrellas. Correct me if I'm wrong?

[richard56]

Hi
This talk of insurances has got me thinking.

My current Excess for 1 x Home...1 x Contents...1 x motor vehicle...2 x Landlord...are all at what every was standard at the time of signing up.

About $250-$450

So what would you guys recommend as Excess for the above insurances?

I am thinking about...$1000 for Home...$1000 for Contents....Go Fire/Theft/Third Party on Motor Vehicle....$1000 for Landlord

Main idea is to save as much as possible with out getting stupid.

Thanks
Richard

[Anthonyacat]

Set the excess to be as high as you're willing to lose when you need to make a claim. For some people that's $250, or even less. I've seen zero-excess cover before, but it's expensive. If you've got the money, higher excesses are almost always a better deal.

But once you've decided on a high premium, run the math and see the difference in premiums vs the difference in excess.

As an example, I once had a quote for insurance:
Excess $250, Premium $1,110
Excess $500, Premium $1,000
Excess $1k, Premium $920
Excess $5k, Premium $900

I went with the $1k option, rather than the $5k option. Not because I couldn't handle the $5k in the very unlikely chance of a claim, but because the $20 reduction in annual premium would take 200 years to overtake the increase in excess. If I expect to claim even once in 200 years, the $5k excess is a bad move.

[mrsaneperson]

After looking around for quite a few weeks and getting quotes from different sources, I finally came across Gary Palmer from Peak Financial Services who was very reasonable and prompt with his quotes providing the information I needed in a well set out table.

For anyone who wants reasonably priced property insurance premiums and other insurances too - contact him :

www.peakfinancial.co.nz

021 949772

[Perry]

How was the comparison with an oft-quoted name of the forums - Crombie Lockwood?

[mrsaneperson]

How was the comparison with an oft-quoted name of the forums - Crombie Lockwood?

I did contact them and gave them my email address but never heard anything back.

[Perry]

Well, that's not good, but a comparison it isn't, of course.

[Perry]

In the past, I've recommended Crombie Lockwood. Based on recent experiences, I now ( Feb 2021) withdraw that recommendation. CL do seem the have "lost the plot" in the last 12 months.

Caveat Emptor. Search for some other insurer, one a bit more responsive. If you can find such, of course.