Personal liability

Personal insurance covers your home, contents, car, and sometimes life and health policies. This includes Natural Hazards Commission (NHC) gap coverage for residential buildings beyond standard limits, hidden gradual damage from internal water leaks (typically up to $5,000), alternative accommodation if your home becomes uninhabitable (often up to $50,000), protected no-claims bonuses for glass breakage and lock replacement, new-for-old replacement options, accidental death benefits (around $20,000), and vehicle replacement within specified timeframes.

The key is understanding the details, NHC provides foundational natural disaster protection (covering earthquakes, natural landslips, volcanic eruptions, hydrothermal activity, tsunami, and storms), but your insurer covers anything beyond those limits. For high-value homes or substantial renovations, the gap between NHC coverage and actual needs can be considerable.

Typical policies also include fire and theft protection, weather damage (wind, hail, flood), malicious damage and vandalism, legal liability coverage (if someone is injured on your property), temporary removal cover (items temporarily away from home), and fusion damage to appliances. The specifics vary by insurer and policy level, which is why comparing across providers reveals significant differences in both price and coverage quality.

Your personal insurance premium depends on several key factors:

• Property value and renovations - Higher-value homes and recent renovations increase premiums, particularly if you haven't updated your sum insured to reflect current building costs
• Number of properties - Multiple properties or rental investments require additional coverage and affect your overall premium structure
• High-value items - Jewellery, art, collectibles, and other valuables may need specific itemisation and increase premiums accordingly
• Vehicle age and usage - Newer vehicles, higher kilometers, and business use all impact motor insurance pricing
• Claims history - Your no-claims bonus status and previous claims significantly affect premium levels across all policy types
• Location and risk factors - Your property's location affects natural hazard risk, crime rates, and flood exposure

Working with a broker typically results in better cver compared to purchasing directly from insurers, while also providing access to specialised coverage for high-net-worth situations. Annual reviews help ensure your premiums accurately reflect your current level of protection needs without paying for unnecessary cover.

What Is Personal Insurance?

Personal insurance is the collection of policies that protect you, your family, and the things you own. For most New Zealanders, that means home buildings insurance, contents insurance, and motor vehicle insurance at minimum. Some people also hold life insurance, income protection, or health insurance as part of their personal insurance portfolio.

It sounds straightforward. But personal insurance is one of those areas where small print, outdated sums insured, and gaps between policies can cost you significantly when you actually need to make a claim. The goal of this guide is to help you understand what good personal insurance looks like in New Zealand — and how working with an independent broker can make a real difference.

Home Buildings Insurance in New Zealand

Home buildings insurance covers the physical structure of your home — the walls, roof, foundations, plumbing, wiring, and fixed fittings. If your home is damaged by fire, storm, flood, or other covered events, your buildings policy should fund the rebuild or repair.

In New Zealand, home buildings insurance works alongside the Natural Hazards Commission (NHC), formerly the Earthquake Commission. The NHC provides a base level of cover for natural disaster events including earthquakes, natural landslips, volcanic eruptions, hydrothermal activity, tsunami, and storms or floods. Your private insurer covers damage beyond those NHC limits, as well as events the NHC doesn't cover.

This layered system creates complexity. Many homeowners assume their insurer handles everything, without realising the NHC is the first port of call for natural disaster claims. Others assume NHC coverage is sufficient, without understanding its limits. Working with a broker helps clarify exactly how these two layers interact for your specific property and sum insured.

Getting Your Sum Insured Right

One of the most common and costly mistakes in home insurance is underinsurance — holding a sum insured that doesn't reflect the true cost of rebuilding your home from the ground up.

New Zealand building costs have increased substantially in recent years. A sum insured set three or four years ago may now be $100,000 or more short of what a full rebuild would actually cost. If you make a total loss claim and your sum insured is too low, you bear the shortfall yourself.

Several factors affect the accurate rebuild cost of your home:

• Floor area and construction type — timber frame, brick veneer, concrete, or other materials all have different rebuild cost profiles
• Architectural features — high stud, custom joinery, premium fixtures, and unique design elements increase rebuild costs
• Site access and slope — difficult access or steep sections add to construction costs
• Outbuildings and garages — these need to be included in your sum insured calculation
• Recent renovations — a kitchen or bathroom upgrade can add $50,000–$150,000 to rebuild costs without being reflected in your policy

A broker can help you use rebuild cost calculators and, where necessary, recommend a quantity surveyor's assessment to ensure your sum insured is accurate.

Contents Insurance: What's Actually Covered?

Contents insurance covers your personal belongings — furniture, electronics, clothing, appliances, sporting equipment, and more. It typically applies to items within your home, though many policies also include limited cover for items temporarily away from home (such as a laptop taken to work or a camera taken on holiday).

Key things to understand about contents insurance:

• New-for-old vs. indemnity — new-for-old policies replace items with equivalent new items; indemnity policies pay the depreciated value. New-for-old is generally preferable.
• Specified items — high-value items like jewellery, art, musical instruments, and collectibles usually need to be individually specified and insured at their appraised value. Standard contents limits rarely cover a single item worth $5,000 or more.
• Gradual damage — some policies cover hidden gradual damage from internal water leaks (e.g., a slow leak inside a wall). This is a valuable but often overlooked benefit.
• Portable items cover — if you regularly travel with valuables, check whether your policy extends cover outside the home and to what limit.

A common mistake is setting a total contents sum insured that feels roughly right, without actually adding up what everything would cost to replace. A thorough contents inventory often reveals people are underinsured by 30–50%.

Motor Vehicle Insurance in New Zealand

Motor vehicle insurance in New Zealand generally comes in three levels:

• Comprehensive — covers damage to your own vehicle (from accidents, fire, theft, weather) as well as third-party damage you cause
• Third party, fire and theft — covers your vehicle only for fire and theft, plus third-party damage you cause
• Third party only — covers damage you cause to other people's property only; no cover for your own vehicle

Comprehensive cover is recommended for most vehicle owners, particularly for newer or higher-value vehicles. The excess you choose has a significant impact on your premium — a higher excess lowers your annual premium but increases your out-of-pocket cost at claim time.

Some important features to look for in vehicle insurance:

• Vehicle replacement guarantee — if your vehicle is written off within a certain period of ownership, some policies replace it with a new equivalent model
• Rental vehicle cover — covers the cost of a hire car while your vehicle is being repaired

— allows you to make a claim without losing your no-claims discount (often available for glass or lock claims specifically)

Natural Hazards Commission: Understanding the Gap

The NHC (formerly EQC) is a government-backed scheme that provides a baseline of natural disaster insurance for residential buildings in New Zealand. Every property with a private home buildings insurance policy automatically receives NHC cover as part of the arrangement.

Currently, the NHC covers the first $300,000 (plus GST) of residential building damage from natural disasters. Your private insurer covers damage above this cap, as well as non-natural-disaster events.

For many New Zealand homes, particularly in major cities or in areas with high land values, this gap between NHC coverage and the true rebuild cost can be significant. For high-value homes, homes with significant improvements, or properties in elevated natural hazard risk areas, it's worth explicitly understanding how your private policy interfaces with NHC coverage.

Why Most New Zealanders Are Underinsured

Research consistently shows that a large proportion of New Zealand homeowners are underinsured. The reasons are understandable but preventable:

• Set and forget — policies are set up and then not reviewed as circumstances change
• Rising building costs — construction costs have risen significantly, eroding the adequacy of older sums insured
• Renovations not reported — additions or upgrades aren't communicated to the insurer
• New purchases — valuable items acquired since the last policy review aren't specified
• Misunderstanding limits — assuming that standard policy limits are sufficient for specific high-value items

The consequences of underinsurance only become apparent at claim time — which is exactly the wrong moment to discover the problem. Annual policy reviews with a broker help prevent this.

The Value of an Independent Broker for Personal Insurance

When you buy insurance directly from a single insurer, you're choosing from that insurer's products. When you work with an independent broker like Gerrards, you gain access to a panel of 20+ insurers, compared simultaneously against your specific needs.

A broker's value in personal insurance goes beyond just price comparison:

• Gap identification — a broker reviews your complete coverage picture and identifies gaps between policies or coverage shortfalls
• Policy interpretation — understanding exactly what your policy does and doesn't cover, before a claim happens
• Claims advocacy — having someone in your corner when dealing with an insurer during a claim can make a material difference to the outcome
• Annual reviews — proactive reviews ensure your coverage keeps pace with changes in your assets, building costs, and life circumstances
• High-value and complex situations — for high-net-worth individuals, landlords, or people with significant valuables, a broker can access specialist policy options not available direct

Personal Insurance for Landlords

If you own rental properties, your personal insurance needs expand considerably. Standard home buildings insurance is typically not appropriate for a property you don't occupy — you need landlord insurance, which includes specific cover for situations like:

• Loss of rental income if the property becomes uninhabitable
• Damage caused by tenants or their guests
• Liability for injuries on the property
• Methamphetamine contamination

Owning multiple properties also creates complexity around how claims, excesses, and no-claims bonuses interact across policies. A broker can structure your property insurance portfolio efficiently across all your properties.

High-Value Items and Lifestyle Property Insurance

Standard personal insurance policies have limits on individual items — typically $2,000–$5,000 for any single item within a contents policy. If you own jewellery, fine art, wine collections, antiques, musical instruments, or other high-value items, these need to be individually specified and insured at their appraised replacement value.

Similarly, if you live on a lifestyle block or small rural property, standard residential insurance may not be the right fit. You may need a policy that also covers farm buildings, machinery, stock, and rural liability — areas where Gerrards has specialist expertise.

How to Know If Your Personal Insurance Is Right

Ask yourself these questions:

• When did you last review your home buildings sum insured?
• Have you renovated or added to your home since your last policy update?
• Have you bought any high-value items — jewellery, electronics, art, vehicles — that may not be fully covered?
• Do you understand exactly how your policies interact with the NHC?
• Have you compared your current premiums and coverage across multiple insurers recently?
• Do you know what your excess is for each policy type?
• Have you ever made a claim that didn't go as expected?

If any of these questions give you pause, it's worth having an independent review of your personal insurance. Gerrards offers a free policy review with no obligation — we'll tell you honestly what you have, what you're missing, and what it would cost to close any gaps.

Getting Started with Gerrards

Our process is straightforward. We start with a free review of your existing coverage — home, contents, motor vehicle, and any other personal policies. We then compare your situation across our panel of insurers, identify any gaps or opportunities, and provide clear recommendations with no jargon.

If we can get you better cover, a better price, or both, we'll show you exactly how. If your current cover is appropriate, we'll tell you that too. Our job is to give you an honest picture, not to sell you something you don't need.

Annual reviews are included — because your circumstances change, building costs change, and your insurance should keep pace.