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Youi NZ has revealed that New Zealand motorists are losing hundreds of dollars per year in car insurance savings by not shopping around.
According to a national survey of 2500 motorists commissioned by Youi NZ, more than half of all New Zealand motorists (54%) may be failing to shop around when renewing their car insurance.
Youi CEO Frank Costigan said, “The research showed many New Zealand car owners are missing out on substantial savings by simply renewing their car insurance without taking the opportunity to review what price other insurers were offering. The research showed that almost half (46%) of those who did shop around by getting quotes from other insurers saved money on their car insurance policy,” he said.
Substantial savings
Mr Costigan said that the savings to be had are in the hundreds of dollars as the research showed those who shopped around saved on average $236 off their renewal premium.
“New Zealanders aged 25 to 39 years was the group who saved the most with $331 coming off current premium followed by those aged 40 to 59 years saving $166 and those over 60 years saving $136,” he said.
The study showed that 45% of females, compared to 48% of males shopped around before renewing their current car insurance.
Only one-third of Auckland car owners (31%) shopped around compared to 69% of car owners across the rest of New Zealand.
However, Auckland motorists achieved the greatest savings of $296 on their car insurance when they did shop compared to only $194 in savings across other areas of New Zealand,” Mr Costigan said.
Reasons for apathy
The research revealed a variety of reasons why New Zealanders did not shop around for their car insurance each year and these included 1. Satisfied with their current insurer (50%) 2. Could not be bothered changing insurer (8%) 3. Believe their current insurance premium is competitive (7%) 4. Too busy and not enough time to get around to it (5%) 5. Never thought about it (4%)
“While New Zealand remains a heavily consolidated insurance market, with the two major players dominating, the research showed those prepared to take the time to shop around could end up saving hundreds of dollars on their car insurance,” Mr Costigan said.
New Zealand motorists can achieve additional savings on their car insurance with Youi NZ offering a market leading 15% online discount from February 18, 2018.
