Rebecca Styles told Morning Report the lack of competition was one reason for the high cost of insurance.
House insurance premiums in New Zealand increased by 97 percent in the last 10 years, and over 30 percent this year, Styles said.
“While it looks like there’s choice and you can shop around, there’s not really… they’re sort of different brands, but they’ll sort of go back to the main company,” she said.
Another challenge specific to house insurance was getting the individual assessment required for each quote, which discouraged people from comparing prices, Styles said.
In Australia customers can contest premiums that seem unreasonable, however, consumers in New Zealand do not have the same option, Styles said.
Australian insurance giant Suncorp has been ordered to ditch a whopping 60 percent hike of a home insurance premium following a complaint from a disgruntled customer.
New Zealanders should have the same rights as they do in Australia, Styles said.
“There should be some avenue for New Zealand consumers to be able to complain or contest the premiums that they’re charged.”
The insurance and financial services ombudsman, which generally deals with insurance complaints does not consider complaints about premium costs.
Increasing amounts of data are also used to justify higher prices, but there should be more transparency, Styles said.
“They are collecting that data on your risk factors like if you’re in a flood zone, if you’re near a fault line, that kind of thing. So they’re using data to get to your premium, they should be able to share that with you,” she said.
