Striking the balance between affordability for customers and the insurers ongoing ability to pay claims sits at the heart of financial management of business. Therefore premiums are regularly reviewed to ensure they’re priced in accordance with the level of risk insured, yet remain affordable for customers.

Two things have become increasingly apparent for insurance companies in recent months. One is the importance of having a strong financial position with access to capital, and the other is the importance of having a comprehensive reinsurance programme in place to cover the very high cost of natural disasters. If lacking in either of these areas, insurance companies are putting their customers at risk.

The impact of the recent catastrophic events we’ve seen, both locally and globally, has meant the cost of reinsurance cover has increased substantially for all types of natural disasters, and we are already incurring this increase.

Recent speculation in the media has suggested premium rises as high as 50% could be expected. For the majority of our customers, we believe the overall increase you receive will be significantly less than that amount.

Thorners is committed to ensuring the risk covered is rated correctly and we ask for your continued support as we make these necessary adjustments.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about these increases.

Tags: Earthquake, Houe Insurance, Insurance premiums, Motor Vehicle Insurance, Premium increase, Vehicle Insurance

KiwiSaver Changes announced!

Click here to read our May 2011 newsletter

Tags: 2011 Budget kiwisaver changes, earthquake insurance, Investing, Investing wisely, KiwiSaver changes

If you are farming in NewZealand and have or are purchasing livestock, especially Bulls, give Thorners a call to get an insurance quote.

What a load of Bull this is!!

www.thorner.co.nz  04 528 8088

Tags: Breeding cattle, Buying a bull, Farm Insurance, Livestock auction, Livestock insurance

Law changes from the 1st of Oct 2010  give landlords more power but many matters are still exposed.

A great insurance policy on the market from Vero is the Landlord Protection Plan which picks up exposures not covered under house policies.  The policy covers malicious damage caused by tenants, eviction for non-payment of rent, loss of rent if your property becomes untenantable as a result of property damage caused by your tenant etc  It’s well worth a look if you are a landlord.

Thorners specialise in all forms of property insurance.  Contact us now if you require any form of property insurance or wish to compare your current cover.

Tags: land lord insurance, property investor, rental property insurance, vero land lord cover

Any landlord going overseas for more than three weeks now needs to appoint a property agent to manage their rentals during their abscence.

If you have rentals make sure you meet this new requirement to avoid any rental property insurance issues.

Thorners specialise in all forms of property insurance.  Contact us for a quote today.

Tags: landlord insurance, property investor, rental property insurance, vero landlord insurance

Does your insurer have your correct house size recorded?  Who will get your life policy proceeds? 

Follow the link to read the informative Thorner October  2010 newsletter

Tags: ami insurance, earthquake insurance, Home Insurance, Life Insurance, State house insurance, Wills

The use of monitored security alarms is a great tool and at Thorners we can also offer you a discount on your home and contents insurance policy for having this at your home. One of our alarm contacts is also offering to upgrade all of their monitored alarm clients alarms to include a monitored smoke detector. Contact us soon if you are interested in adding smoke detection to your monitored alarm system or just want a quote to see the difference in premiums that it can make.  This discount is over and above the discounts we offer Gold Super Card holders.

Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088

www.thorner.co.nz

Tags: AA Insurance, ADT security new zealand, alarm monitoring new zealand, ami insurance, Ansvar insurance, Home Ownership, senior net news, smoke detection, State Insurance

The festive season is almost upon us and many Kiwi’s will be travelling to see loved ones over the christmas  – new year break.

There are simple things to remember and we should always take every opportunity to make sure that our houses are left secure, the mail is going to be collected and that we don’t leave valuables for all to see in our vehicles.  Vehicles with GPS units or even the holder sitting on the dash or windscreen are becoming prime targets.

Why not quickly make sure that the items you are taking on holiday are insured, that the home alarm is working and that you have pictures of your valuables safely stored away just incase you are in the unfortunate posiotion of making a claim.  Nothing beats showing the insurer a video of your contents in the case of a large burglary.

Thorners are established award winning insurance brokers servicing clients New Zealand wide so contact us if you need to review your current policies.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088

Tags: burglary claim, Contents Insurance, GPS units, holiday, Monitored home alarms, Vehicle Insurance, vehicle theft

• Directors, officers, trustees and others could be fined for not arranging and maintaining adequate insurance cover;
• The levels of under-insurance in New Zealand in both the domestic and commercial sectors are alarmingly high;
• Being under insured is nearly as bad as being uninsured;
• Critical failures include not insuring your business and its assets for the correct replacement value and failing to anticipate how long it will take to get your business back up and running;
• Be realistic about potential recovery costs so that you don’t end up paying the cost of being under-insured;
• Allow for incidental costs such as architect’s or engineers fees. Also include an allowance for the cost of demolishing the remains of damaged buildings or plant and clearing the site of debris: the expense involved in clearing up can exceed demolition costs;
• There is anecdotal evidence of an increase in the incidence of fraud and theft. Liability is also a critical area to regularly review;
• Few businesses have internet liability cover – do you know what your employees are emailing?

Think ahead, not short term.

Thorners have vast experience in all insurance matters and provide advice New Zealand – contact us today to discuss your situation.

Tags: Hastings insurance broker, hawkes bay insurance broker, Internet liability insurance, SME insurance, Trustee liability, Wellington insurance

It is really important when somebody else completes an insurance application for you that you check to see the answers are correct and that no information has been left out.

The insurer can avoid the policy and decline to consider the claim if all the information wasn’t written on the application form.

Even when your broker writes the answers on the application on your behalf, you are still expected to read all the answers and sign a statement declaring all the information is correct.

At Thorners we always provide you with a copy of everything completed during a Life Insurance interview to give you time to reconsider your answers.

Call Thorners if you are considering any form of insurance to get the best advice in New Zealand.

Click here to email Thorners or Call Us on (04) 528 8088

Tags: apply online life insurance, Fidelity Life, Hastings Direct Insurance, Hastings insurance broker, Hawkes bay insurance, Hawkes Bay Life Insurance, Non-disclosure, sovereign life insurance, Term Life Insurance