New to NZ? Find out what insurance you need

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If you’re contemplating a move to New Zealand, for a few months, years or maybe permanently, you need to know about the local insurance environment. Some types of cover will be the same or similar to what you have in your home country; others are unique to NZ, like ACC cover and EQC cover. 

This quick guide will introduce you to the main types of insurance that visitors and migrants need to know about. It’s just a general overview, so make sure you get specialised advice from an insurer before you sign up for cover. 

Insurance while you’re travelling

Having a decent travel protection strategy will help to protect you financially while you look around New Zealand. But don’t wait until you’re already in the country. You need to organise travel insurance before you depart for NZ. 

Make sure your policy covers every possibility – loss, theft, medical bills and travel disruption. If you’re coming to New Zealand for longer than a few weeks, you might find that a year’s worth of cover is the cheapest way to go.

Some travel policies won’t cover you for riskier adventures, like scuba diving, bungy jumping, sky diving and canyon swinging. Compare policies and see what’s excluded to find the best fit for your style of travel. For more see https://www.state.co.nz/travel-insurance

Insurance for your possessions

If you love the Kiwi lifestyle so much you decide to stay for a few years, or permanently, contents insurance will be a necessity. It looks after all the things in your home (rented or owned), such as furniture, appliances, digital devices, jewellery, musical instruments, kitchen equipment, sports gear and all the other stuff that makes life comfortable. It even covers cash, if your wallet is lost or stolen. 

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There’s one tricky thing you need to think about with contents insurance.  If you have overseas visitors staying and their stuff is stolen in a burglary at your home, your contents insurance won’t usually cover their losses. They will need their own insurance cover. For more see: https://www.state.co.nz/contents-insurance

Insurance for a car, van or truck

New Zealand is a great country for road trips. And if you end up working here, you might well need a car for daily commuting. Whether you get a compact hatchback or a fully-kitted-out campervan, it’s important to get the right kind of vehicle insurance. Generally, you’ll have a choice of three types:

  • The most economical choice is ‘third party’ protection. On the off chance that you have an accident and it’s your fault, this kind of protection covers the harm you do to other vehicles and the people in them.  But it’s important to remember that your vehicle isn’t covered. 
  • Next up the affordability scale is ‘third party fire and theft’. This option gives you the same cover as third party protection, plus it also pays out if your vehicle is stolen or destroyed by fire. 
  • Best of all is ‘comprehensive’ vehicle insurance. It covers your vehicle for nearly anything that can transpire. And of course, it covers other individuals’ vehicles and property if they’re damaged or destroyed in a road incident where you are at fault. Often this level of cover also pays for a tow-truck, street tidy up and a hire car while yours is out of action.

Insurance for medical expenses

New Zealand has a world-class public hospital system that’s free if you’re a New Zealand citizen, resident or you have a long-term work visa. If you don’t fit that description, you will need to organise some kind of private medical cover. Depending on how long you plan to be in New Zealand, travel insurance could do the trick nicely.  

If you injure yourself accidentally while in New Zealand, either working or as a visitor, you will probably be eligible for a special type of insurance called ACC (Accident Compensation Commission) cover. ACC covers most physical injuries if they are caused by an accident, a condition that comes on gradually because of your work, and medical treatment for sexual assault or abuse.

Insurance for houses and buildings

New Zealand property is often a winning investment, so you might want to purchase a home to live in or rent out. Either way, you’ll need house insurance (also known as home insurance or dwelling insurance). 

The big thing to remember with house insurance is the term ‘sum insured’. It refers to the maximum amount that an insurance company will pay to repair or rebuild your home. While you might be inclined to guess a sum insured for your property, we strongly advise you to use a specialised online calculator that provides an accurate rebuild cost. There’s nothing worse than only having enough money to rebuild half your house because it’s under-insured. 

Built-in EQCover 

No matter who your insurer is in New Zealand, your house insurance and contents insurance will include EQCover, which is New Zealand’s governmental natural disaster insurance for loss or damage caused by an earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami or landslip. EQCover also provides some cover for damage caused by a storm, flood or fire related to a natural disaster. 

Insurance to protect your family’s quality of life

Whether you live in New Zealand or anywhere else in the world, life cover is important if you have family members who rely on you for financial support. In its most basic form, life cover pays out when the insured person dies. However, there are a number of variations of life cover around these days, including an almost-instant cover that can be purchased online. 

We recommend you talk to an expert before taking out life insurance. If you’re still quite young, you could find that trauma cover (cover for serious illness) makes more sense than life cover.  Or you might decide to get income protection insurance instead, which protects your ability to earn money. 

Whatever you choose to do about life cover, remember that it’s better to get it sooner rather than later. If you wait until you’re much older, serious illness or deteriorating health could make it difficult to get any form of life cover. The younger and healthier you are, the cheaper the premiums.