Getting a quick life insurance quote

Speed is a legitimate requirement. Settlement dates are real, babies arrive on their own schedule, and people who have finally decided to sort their insurance out do not want to spend six weeks on it. So this page is not going to lecture you about patience. It is going to separate the parts that are genuinely quick from the parts that are not.

Quoting is quick. Rate tables are loaded into adviser software, and a set of comparable quotes across the market takes minutes once someone knows your age, sex, smoking status, occupation, the sum insured and the premium structure you want. There is nothing medical involved and nothing that requires you to dig out paperwork.

Underwriting is not quick, or rather, it is as quick as your disclosure allows. A clean application can be decided in days. One requiring a GP report will take weeks, and no amount of urgency changes how long a medical practice takes to send records.

The six things a quote needs

1. 1Your date of birth.
2. 2Whether you have used tobacco or nicotine in the last twelve months, and in what form.
3. 3Your occupation, described specifically — “builder, on tools, residential” rather than “construction”.
4. 4The sum insured, or the debt and income figures that let someone work it out with you.
5. 5Whether you want stepped or level premiums, and to what age.
6. 6Whether trauma or TPD is included, and whether accelerated or standalone.

Realistic timings

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

• Online quote engines usually assume standard underwriting terms, which not everyone gets.
• A quote that does not state the premium structure is not comparable with one that does.
• Fast decision products often ask fewer questions and scrutinise more closely at claim.
• A quote is valid until your next birthday or the insurer’s next repricing, whichever comes first.
• Do not cancel any existing cover on the strength of a quote. Wait for the policy to be in force.
• Interim accidental death cover starts when the insurer holds a completed application, not when you enquire.

Every New Zealand insurer writes life insurance in new zealand 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.

• An adviser quotes several insurers in the time it takes you to complete one online form.
• They know which insurers currently make fast automated decisions on which profiles.
• They can flag before you apply whether your history is likely to require a GP report, so you can plan for it.
• They keep the existing cover in place while the new application runs, so speed never comes at the cost of a gap.

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.