FMG: Winner of Most Satisfied Customers Award 2024

Over the past few years, home and contents insurance premiums have been on the rise. More frequent extreme weather events, Earthquake Commission levy changes and the reassessment of customer risk by insurance companies have all contributed to premium increases well above the rate of inflation.

But when was the last time you reviewed your home and contents insurance? While it’s easy to renew your policies each year, if you set and forget your home and contents cover, you may be missing out on a better deal.

So, if you’re not up-to-date with the finer details of your home and contents policy, it’s probably time to check how your insurer stacks up when compared to other providers in the market. And that’s where Canstar can help.

As part of our mission to inform consumers of the best NZ has to offer, each year we ask home and contents policy holders to rate their satisfaction with their insurers.

This year, Canstar canvassed the opinions of 2471 New Zealanders with home and contents insurance, and asked them to rate their insurers across a range of categories, to measure and track their levels of customer satisfaction.

The insurance providers rated in our award research cover the biggest names in the market: AA, AMI, AMP, ANZ, Aon, ASB, BNZ, FMG, Kiwibank, NZI, State, Tower, Trade Me, Vero and Westpac.

To decide which insurer offers the best level of customer satisfaction, each was rated across the following categories:

• Overall Satisfaction
• Communication
• Comprehensiveness of Cover
• Cost
• Customer Service
• Value for Money

Coming out on top is FMG, the clear winner of Canstar’s 2024 award for Most Satisfied Customers | Home and Contents Insurance.

This is the third year in a row that FMG has taken out our Customer Satisfaction Award, and the fifth time in six years the insurer has won our award on feedback from its many satisfied customers.

And, again, FMG took out our award by earning a near perfect set of ratings: 5 Stars across all the categories listed above, except for two 4-Star ratings, for Value for Money and Cost.

It’s worth noting that of the 15 insurers judged in this year’s award, FMG earned more 5-Star satisfaction ratings than its competitors combined.

What’s covered by FMG’s Home Policy?

FMG’s home insurance policy covers more than just your house. It also covers additional structures, including garages, sheds, gates, fences, patios and driveways, so is great for rural residents. Benefits include:

• Full coverage in the event of a natural disaster
• Septic tanks
• Fire-fighting equipment up to $5000
• Limited cover of up to $5000 for gradual damage from leaking internal plumbing
• Free replacement of locks and keys if they are damaged, lost, stolen or duplicated without your consent
• Repair or replacement of retaining walls, up to $50,000
• Hidden gradual damage, up to $5000
• Removal of debris, up to $1000
• Tree removal costs, up to $1000

What’s covered by FMG’s Contents Policy?

• $5000 emergency advance
• Temporary accommodation up to $30,000 per event
• Cover for your legal liability for injury to others and loss of their property
• If you can’t find a replacement item for a furniture pair or set, FMG will cover replacement of the full set
• Hearing aids, glasses or dentures. Up to $5000, or higher agreed value for loss of hearing aids, prescription glasses and dentures
• Locks and keys replacement
• If you choose not to repair or replace a computer or cellphone, or if it’s more than three years old, FMG will pay value up to $5000
• Student studying away from home cover up to $10,000
• Cover for items lost while travelling or on holiday in NZ and Australia

Optional benefits

You can purchase the following optional benefits:

• Cover up to $5000 for accidental loss for contents related to your lifestyle block operations, including machinery and equipment, stores and harvested product

It’s also worth noting that once again FMG has achieved a double awards win by also taking home Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customers | Car Insurance Award, for more details of that win, click here.

Home & Contents Insurance Most Satisfied Customers Award

Tower: Insurer of the Year Award | Home & Contents

As well as our Most Satisfied Customers Awards, which are awarded on the basis of consumer feedback, Canstar’s expert research team also awards its Insurer of the Year Award | Home & Contents, which this year was won by Tower.

For our Insurer of the Year Award, our expert panel researched 15 products from 11 providers, across three types of insurance:

• Home & contents insurance
• Home only cover
• Contents only cover

And for the customer service element of the award, policyholders were asked to rate their satisfaction with their insurer across five key areas:

• Communication
• Comprehensiveness of cover
• Cost
• Customer service
• Value for money

Awarding Tower the top Home & Contents Award, Canstar’s research panel noted the outstanding value offered by Tower’s insurance products, especially its Standard and Plus policy options, which feature comprehensive insurance cover at affordable prices.

Our team also noted Tower’s strong performance when it comes to events cover – including floods, storms and earthquakes – which is particularly relevant for many Kiwi households.

View Home & Contents Insurer of the Year Award

About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar’s Editor, Bruce Pitchers. Bruce has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in the UK and Australasia, including ACP, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. Prior to Canstar, he worked as a freelancer, including for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority, and for real estate companies on both sides of the Tasman.