• Pay
  • Claim
  • My Tower
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
Tower Insurance Logo
  • Car
  • Contents
  • House
  • Our Insurance
    • Car
    • Boat
    • Motorbike
    • House
    • Pet
    • Motorhome
    • Contents
    • Travel
    • Caravan
    • Landlord
    • Business
    • More
Login Register
Home > Manage Your Insurance > Understanding Your Premium – Contents

Understanding your contents premium

Everyone's insurance premium may change year by year. So, we want to be transparent about what makes up a contents insurance premium and why it might change.

What makes up your contents insurance premium?


To get an idea of where your money goes, here’s an overview of what makes up your contents insurance premium.


Base or Company premium

The money we use to pay your claims and our other costs, like paying our staff.

It’s also used to pay for our own insurance; this is called reinsurance.


Fire & Emergency levy

Your contribution to Fire and Emergency New Zealand. This fee goes towards supporting the fire and emergency services.

Learn more about the Fire and Emergency levy


Tax (GST)

Your premium also includes a 15% Goods and Services Tax of the total cost.

How we price insurance

We use historical and market data to analyse the risk at different addresses across New Zealand. Your specific cover is also considered, such as your sum insured and whether you have any specified items that might need extra cover. We also allow for natural hazards in our pricing, such as the risk of earthquakes.

Why does the cost of contents insurance go up?

We need to make sure we’re able to help you if something unexpected happens.

We’re always reviewing our pricing, and your premium might change at renewal. It’s based on a few things specific to you, like your claim’s history, where you live and the type of assets you own.

Inflation also plays a part, as supplies, parts, or replacement items become more expensive, so your premium may to be adjusted accordingly.

It's important to make sure you have enough insurance to cover everything in your home. If you’re not sure how much that is, you can use our Contents Calculator to do the maths for you:

Contents calculator

Know your numbers

Tips and tricks to help you understand your insurance premiums

Read more from our blog
Insure
  • Car Insurance
  • House Insurance
  • Contents Insurance
  • Contract works – Renovation cover
  • Landlord Insurance
  • Boat Insurance
  • Business Insurance
  • Travel Insurance
  • Pet Insurance
  • Renters’ Insurance
  • House and Contents bundle
  • Electric Vehicle Insurance
  • Motorbike & Motorcycle Insurance
  • Lifestyle Block
  • Caravan or Trailer Insurance
  • Motorhome, Campervan & RV Insurance
  • Multi-Policy Discount
Manage
  • Manage
  • Claims
  • Make a payment
  • Change your contact details
  • House Insurance calculator
  • Contents Insurance calculator
About Us
  • About Tower
  • Contact us
  • Fair Conduct Programme
  • Higher care
  • Compliments
  • Complaints
  • Our offices
  • Careers
  • News
  • Investor Centre News & Results
  • Financial Strength Rating
  • Blog
  • Tower Translates
  • Report insurance fraud
  • Canterbury Earthquake Update
shielded

©2025 Tower Limited and its related companies. All rights reserved.

  • Terms & conditions
  • Privacy and security
  • Fair Insurance Code
  • Publicly Available Disclosure
  • Sitemap