If you’re looking for the best deal on your home and contents insurance, it’s important to shop around and compare insurers.
To assist Kiwi consumers make the right decisions about their home and contents insurance, each year Canstar compares and analyses the main insurance providers in the market to assess which provide the best value products and levels of customer service.
Tower: Home & Contents Insurer of the Year
Congratulation to Tower the winner of Canstar’s Home & Contents Insurer of the Year Award 2025.
This is the second year in a row that Tower has won our award, which is based on a sophisticated ratings methodology that compares costs and features across a range of insurance policies. The award is unique because it also factors in feedback from over 2500 Kiwi insurance customers about how satisfied they are with their insurers.
This year, our expert panel’s research covered 14 products from 11 providers, across three types of insurance:
- Home & Contents Insurance
- Home Only Insurance
- Contents Only Insurance
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 its Home & Contents Insurer of the Year 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 market-leading pricing.
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.
What’s on offer from Tower?
Tower offers its customers three levels of award-winning cover across its contents, home and home & contents policies: Premium, Plus and Standard.
What’s covered by Tower’s home insurance?
Premium cover: Tower’s most comprehensive policy includes cover benefits including temporary accommodation up to $30,000, gradual damage from water leaks up to $3000, extended carpet replacement and reduced $100 excess for glass breakages.
Plus cover: Benefits include temporary accommodation up to $25,000, gradual damage from water leaks up to $2000 and reduced $200 excess for glass breakages.
Standard cover: Benefits include temporary accommodation up to $15,000, and gradual damage from water leaks up to $1000.
All of Tower’s home insurance policies cover:
- Extended sum for fire damage: 20% extra cover should your house be destroyed by fire (excludes fires by natural hazards).
- Full replacement of your home up to sum insured.
- Garden retaining walls and landscaping.
- Keys and locks.
- Natural disaster damage: if your home suffers natural disaster damage, which is more than the EQCover limit, Tower will pay the difference up to the sum insured.
- One event/one excess: if you need to make a claim on more than one of your Tower house, contents or car policies at the same time, you’ll only pay one excess.
What’s covered by Tower’s contents insurance?
Premium cover: Replace lost, damaged or stolen goods with items of similar value, including $10,000 cover per mobile phone, up to $30,000 for jewellery, and up to $10,000 for home office and sports/leisure equipment, prescription glasses/contact lenses and $10,000 student cover.
Plus cover: Up to $15,000 for jewellery, $5000 for home office, sports/leisure equipment, and prescription glasses/contact lenses; $5000 student cover and up to $1000 per mobile phone.
Standard cover: Up to $5000 for jewellery, $1000 sports/leisure equipment and prescription glasses/contact lenses; $5000 student cover and up to $500 per mobile phone.
All of Tower’s contents policies cover:
- Keys and locks.
- Legal liability.
- Natural disaster cover.
- One excess.
- Replacement or repair of possessions, up to policy limit and sum insured.
- Spoiled frozen or chilled foods.
- Transit insurance when moving.
View Home & Contents Insurer of the Year Award
Canstar’s Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance Awards
In addition to our Insurer of the Year Award, based on its research, our expert team also awards individual insurers that deliver great value policies our coveted Outstanding Value Awards.
The awards enable consumers to narrow their search for great insurance products to just the highest-rated insurance providers in the market, those that have been assessed and awarded Canstar’s 5-Star awards for Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance.
This year, our winners are:
AMI: Outstanding Value Winner
AMI offers home, contents and home & contents insurance products. Across the three products, the following earn top 5-Star ratings:
- Plus Home Insurance
- Plus Home & Contents Insurance
Tower: Outstanding Value Winner
Tower offers home, contents and home & contents cover across three levels: Premium, Plus and Standard. Across the nine products, the following earn top 5-Star ratings:
- Plus Contents Insurance
- Plus Home & Contents Insurance
- Standard Contents Insurance
- Standard Home Insurance
- Standard Home & Contents Insurance
Trade Me: Outstanding Value Winner
Trade Me offers home, contents and home & contents insurance products. Across the three products, the following earn top 5-Star ratings:
- Plus Cover Contents Insurance
- Plus Cover Home & Contents Insurance
State: Outstanding Value Winner
Trade Me offers home, contents and home & contents insurance products. Across the three products, the following earn top 5-Star ratings:
- Home Insurance
- Home & Contents Insurance
View full Home & Contents Star Ratings
About the author of this page
Bruce Pitchers is Canstar NZ’s Content Manager. An experienced finance reporter, he has three decades’ experience as a journalist and has worked for major media companies in Australia, the UK and NZ, including ACP, Are Media, Bauer Media Group, Fairfax, Pacific Magazines, News Corp and TVNZ. As a freelancer, he has worked for The Australian Financial Review, the NZ Financial Markets Authority and major banks and investment companies on both sides of the Tasman.
In his role at Canstar, he has been a regular commentator in the NZ media, including on the Driven, Stuff and One Roof websites, the NZ Herald, Radio NZ, and Newstalk ZB.
Away from Canstar, Bruce creates puzzles for magazines and newspapers, including Woman’s Day and New Idea. He is also the co-author of the murder-mystery book 5 Minute Murder.
Share this article