AA Insurance Location, Location, Location NZ: Like many property buyers Lauren and Nikhil were looking for a completely renovated home when they appeared in Episode three of AA Insurance Location, Location, Location, NZ.
The couple asked AA Insurance Location, Location, Location NZ for help and hosts Jayne Kiely and Paul Glover took Lauren and Nikhil to view some desirable homes within their budget.
The pair met with AA Insurance expert Tom, when he popped by to discuss insurance. “Exciting week looking at houses,” Tom said to Lauren and Nikhil. “What are you looking for?” he asked.
“We’re looking for a house that’s completely renovated. Ideally something that we can just turn the key, walk in and move all our stuff in,” Nikhil said to Tom.
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But they had questions about insurance and Tom explained their options. “It’s a really exciting time, right. So one of the things people forget about is making sure you’ve got your insurance cover in place,” Tom said to the globe-trotting couple.
Lauren said they hadn’t really thought about the insurance piece. “I’ll be honest with you, we’ve been very focused on the house,” she said.
Tom pointed out to the couple that a condition of getting a mortgage in New Zealand was having insurance on the home. He discussed options for cover and the premiums, which are the sum you pay fortnightly, monthly or yearly for your insurance.
“Most insurers offer different levels of cover. And so once you’ve found a property that you’re really interested in, it’s actually giving your insurance company a call and talking to them about what the premiums might be,” said Tom. “And so you can make sure you’ve got that as part of your ongoing budget.”
There are lots of factors that influence your insurance premiums, Tom told Lauren and Nikhil. “If you call your insurance company, they can provide you with a document to show that you have insurance that you can apply to your lawyer or to the bank,” said Tom. “Great things to think about,” Lauren replied.
Factors that affect your premium can include, the claims data your insurer holds for previous years, the sum insured you set for your property, and information about the home being insured – such as the location, age and size of the house, and the materials that your home is made of.
It’s a good idea to get onto sorting your insurance early in the process, to make sure you can get the appropriate cover for your property and know how much to budget for your insurance before putting in an offer. Talk to your insurer and get a quote for the property as part of your due diligence.
There are some things that you can do to adjust your premium to fit your budget. If you can, paying your premium annually, can be more cost efficient. However, monthly or fortnightly payments can help you avoid large lump sum payments. Changing your excess, which is the amount you pay when you make a claim, can also reduce the premium. You can choose to set a higher excess, which will lower your overall premium. This means you will need to pay a higher excess amount at claim time.
You can watch Lauren and Nikhil’s episode of AA Insurance Location, Location, Location NZ on TVNZ+
New episodes of AA Insurance Location, Location, Location NZ air Sundays 7.30pm on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+
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