Car Insurance NZ: 4 Ways to Lower Your Premium at Renewal

Car insurance premiums in New Zealand have risen sharply over the past few years, driven by repair costs, parts prices and the weather. You cannot control those, but you can control a surprising amount of your own premium. Here are four ways to lower your car insurance at renewal.

1. Raise your excess

Your excess is what you pay on a claim before the insurer pays the rest. Moving from a $400 excess to $1,000 typically cuts the premium by 10 to 20 percent. The trade-off is real: you need to be able to find $1,000 if something happens. If you have that buffer, this is usually the single biggest saving available. Our vehicle insurance estimator shows the effect of different excess levels.

2. Tell your insurer how little you drive

Many insurers price on annual kilometres, and plenty of people are still on a default of 15,000 to 20,000 km from when they commuted daily. If you drive 8,000 km a year now, say so. It is a two-minute phone call.

3. Where the car sleeps

Garaged overnight versus on the street is a rating factor with most insurers. If you have moved, or started using the garage, update it. The same goes for your address: moving suburbs changes theft and crash risk pricing even within the same city.

4. Ask the question nobody asks

At renewal, ring and ask: “What is the best you can do for a renewing customer?” Insurers budget for retention discounts and often have more flexibility than the renewal letter suggests. Have a competing quote in hand when you ask. Use the vehicle insurance comparison to see which insurers fit your car, driver age and excess before you call.

What not to cut

Dropping from comprehensive to third-party saves money but shifts the whole risk of your own car onto you. It makes sense for an old car worth less than a year or two of premiums; it rarely makes sense for a car you would struggle to replace. Agreed value versus market value also matters: market value policies pay what the car is worth on the day, which after a few years can be far less than you expect.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average cost of car insurance in NZ?

Published comparison data puts the average comprehensive premium at about $1,300 a year in 2026, with a gap of several hundred dollars between the cheapest and dearest quote for the same car.

Does a higher excess always lower the premium?

Yes, with every major NZ insurer, but the saving flattens above about $1,500.

General information only. Premiums depend on your claims history, vehicle, location and insurer.