You break it, you bought it: 9 in 10 drivers support compulsory car insurance

An overwhelming majority of respondents to our recent survey agreed that car insurance should be a compulsory price to pay for all drivers on the road, rather than an extra precaution (93%).

New Zealand drivers clearly considered maintaining their policy a top priority, as only five percent of respondents had let their motoring insurance lapse in the last year during times of financial or time pressures.

Unfortunately, more than half of respondents had been in a car accident in the past; and close to one in five were unlucky enough to have been involved in a traffic accident with an uninsured driver.

To help New Zealand drivers protect themselves on the road, we compared different car insurance brands in terms of customer satisfaction.

AA Insurance was the brand to beat; having achieved our most satisfied customers award for car insurance for the second year running.

Also rated in this survey were AMI Insurance, State Insurance, Westpac, NZI, Tower, BNZ and Vero.

Our results showed:

• AA Insurance received five stars in all rated criteria.
• AMI Insurance achieved top ratings for customer service, and claims processing.

Canstar Blue commissions Your Source to regularly survey 2,500 New Zealand consumers across a range of categories to measure and track customer satisfaction. The outcomes reported are the results from those within the survey group who have a car insurance policy – in this case, 1,764 people. To qualify, the customer must have an active car insurance policy in their name and pay the bills. Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included.

Results are comparative and it should be noted that brands that received three stars have still achieved a satisfaction measure of at least six out of 10.

Overall customer satisfaction

Customers were most satisfied overall with AA Insurance’s car policies, with the insurer receiving a five star rating in this category. AMI Insurance, State Insurance, Westpac and NZI all received four stars for overall satisfaction; Tower, BNZ and Vero followed with three.

Value for money

AA Insurance achieved five star honours for the value for money of their car insurance policies; followed by Westpac, State Insurance and AMI Insurance with four; and NZI, Tower, BNZ and Vero with three.

Service (e.g. call centre)

Looking at how well car insurance companies interact with their customers, we saw a five-star tie between AA Insurance and AMI Insurance in this area. State Insurance, Westpac and NZI were close behind with four stars for customer service; with Tower, BNZ and Vero following with three.

Claims process

Getting into a car accident can be a stressful experience, and a simple claims process can make it a lot less stressful. Achieving five star ratings for claims processing were AA Insurance, AMI Insurance and NZI^*. Next were State Insurance and Westpac with four star ratings, then Tower, BNZ^* and Vero with three.

Clarity of policy

AA Insurance emerged with a final five star rating for the clarity of its car insurance policies. Following with four star ratings were AMI Insurance, State Insurance and Westpac; then three star recipients NZI, Tower, BNZ and Vero.