Smoker vs non-smoker premiums

Smoking changes life insurance pricing more than almost anything else on the application form. It is not treated as a lifestyle detail — it is a mortality factor, and insurers price it accordingly.

We want to be careful about how we show this, because the published New Zealand data we rely on does not give a clean comparison. MoneyHub publishes a 45-year-old male non-smoker table and a 55-year-old male smoker table. Those are ten years apart, so the difference between them is age and smoking combined, and it would be misleading to present it as a smoking premium.

What we can do is show both, say clearly what they are, and let the scale speak for itself.

These two tables are ten years apart in age. The difference between $642 and $4,227 at the cheapest end reflects both a decade of ageing and smoking status, and we cannot separate the two from this data. What the pair does show honestly is the scale of what these two factors do together, and that is worth seeing.

Getting re-rated after you quit

1. 1Check your policy’s definition of non-smoker and the smoke-free period it requires — twelve months is common, but it is not universal.
2. 2Once you meet it, apply to the insurer in writing. Nothing happens automatically.
3. 3Expect a declaration, and sometimes a test. Insurers can and do check.
4. 4The re-rate applies going forward, not retrospectively, so apply as soon as you qualify.
5. 5If your insurer will not re-rate on acceptable terms, the market can be re-quoted — though switching means new underwriting on your current health.

These are the details that decide whether the cover does what you expected. Read them before you compare on price.

• The exact definition of non-smoker in the wording, including cigars, pipes, vaping and nicotine replacement.
• The smoke-free period required before re-rating, and whether it runs from your last cigarette or from your declaration.
• Whether the insurer requires a test, and what happens if it is positive.
• Whether a re-rate requires new underwriting of anything else, which would expose other health changes.
• Whether occasional social smoking counts. On most wordings it does.

Every premium figure on this page is a published market example, not a quote we have generated. Here is exactly what they are.

• Annual figures: MoneyHub’s life insurance comparison, page updated 11 June 2026, for $500,000 of life cover on the profile named in each caption.
• Monthly figures: Quashed Market Scan data, page updated 15 May 2026, for an employed non-smoker with no health issues, across three insurers only.
• Both exclude every discount — healthy-lifestyle, membership, multi-benefit and first-year — and both assume a clean health history with no loading applied.
• Neither reflects policy fee treatment, CPI indexation or the cost of riders, and published rates change between updates.

Your own number comes from an insurer in writing, after underwriting. Treat these figures as the shape of the market rather than as your price.

Every New Zealand insurer writes what life insurance costs in nz to its own wording, and the words are where the money is. Two policies that look identical on price can pay very differently when it matters. Closing that gap is the entire job of an adviser.

• Smoker loadings differ between insurers, and so do the definitions, so shopping the market matters more for smokers than for anyone else.
• The saving from a successful re-rate is the largest available in this market, and an adviser will chase it for you.
• Where a re-rate is refused, an adviser can compare what the open market offers a former smoker.
• For applicants who have quit recently, knowing which insurer counts twelve months and which counts longer decides where to apply.

There are three ways to buy life cover in New Zealand, and they are not equivalent. You can buy direct from one insurer, which means you see one product range and one underwriting appetite. You can buy through your bank, which usually means a single insurer’s product sold under the bank’s brand, often with narrower definitions. Or you can go through an adviser, who quotes several insurers at once and is required to put your interests first.

The premium you pay is the same either way. Insurers build adviser commission into their pricing whether or not an adviser is involved, so going direct does not get you a discount — it just removes the person whose job is to argue your corner at application and at claim time.

• An adviser can see which insurer is currently taking your health history on standard terms, and which one will load or exclude it.
• An adviser can structure cover across two insurers if that produces a better outcome than putting everything with one.
• An adviser handles the underwriting back-and-forth, and is the person who chases the claim when a family is least able to.
• An adviser has to document why the recommendation suits you, which is a written record you can hold them to.

We are a referral service, not an insurer. We do not quote premiums and we do not sell policies. What we do is put you in front of one licensed New Zealand adviser who can compare the market properly.

1. 1

   You tell us what you are looking at

   The form takes about a minute. Nobody asks for your medical history on a web form — that conversation happens with the adviser, properly, and only once you have decided to proceed.

2. 2

   An adviser calls you

   A licensed New Zealand adviser talks through your situation: who depends on you, what you owe, what you already have in place, and what you are actually worried about.

3. 3

   They compare the market

   The adviser quotes across the major insurers, checks which of them will take your health history on the best terms, and puts the options side by side in writing.

4. 4

   You decide, in your own time

   There is no obligation and no cost to you. If the answer is that you already have enough cover, a good adviser will tell you that.