Photo: 123rf
Some people are considering taking the gamble to ditch insurance as prices continue to rise.
Stats NZ figures show at March last year house insurance was up almost 25 percent, contents insurance up about 28 percent and car insurance up almost 23 percent compared to the previous year.
A leading economist told Checkpoint the country is still in a cost of living crisis and it could take months to get out of that hole, with inflation going up.
According to Stats NZ in the past year food prices have gone up 4.4 percent, the biggest jump since December 2023.
New figures from Centrix show almost half a million people are behind on debt repayments, with nearly 22,000 in mortgage arrears.
Company liquidations have also risen 27 percent year-on-year.
Checkpoint spoke to three women all considering altering their insurance to keep costs down.
Jan said it is impossible to ignore the price of insurance as it continues to rise.
"It goes up every year, no matter what. It's nothing to do with you claiming and losing, your no claims bonuses, and you don't have to research much to find that it's rising like five or six times faster than our incomes are."
The price of her housing and content bundle has increased twice over the past two years.
"[It] went up $50 a month two years ago, and then it went up $50 a month last year again."
For Jan, the increase doesn't go unnoticed.
"It's pretty tough. It's like if I add up my insurance and my health insurance and my rates. It's about 25 percent, 30 percent of my income just for those three things."
"My husband passed away in December, so he was a high-income earner. So now it's a big change for me to be on an average income on my own. Rates and insurance are the same and the same outgoings, regardless of circumstances, aren't they?"
She is now also considering the value of her health insurance.
"It will go up as you age, so you have to relook at it each year."
Joan has also noticed the cost of her insurance skyrocketing, something she called "insane".
"The price has gone up substantially. We've got several insurance with the same company and we pay monthly and I used to pay about $440 a month. So it's up to about $660 a month now. So that's insurance on the properties, insurance on vehicles. Just everything in the packet."
She is now looking at other ways the cost of her insurance could be brought down.
"I am going to get all the policies out. I'm gonna have a look at them all. See if we put the excess up so that might bring the policy down, possibly get rid of one or two, I don't know."
Like Jan and Joan, a tough economy is also leading Babette to consider the worth of her insurance plans.
"Insurance costs have skyrocketed. Quite a few people have are not taking content insurance because they can't afford it. I'm mulling over that at the moment for the number of times that I that I have not claimed on insurance, not that I've needed to. I think the costs are very high."
She has already been taking measures to lower the cost, but thinks she may have to do more.
"To get my insurance rates down, I have raised the excess on my house and contents and car. So that you know I could get the premium down, but I'm not too sure how I'm going to be faced when my next insurance policy falls due."
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