How Vero compares, feature by feature
Slow leaks behind walls are a common and expensive claim — usually capped low, if covered at all, and finding the leak often isn't covered.
Check your hidden-water sub-limit and budget for the gap; ask if a higher limit is available.
Retaining walls are costly to rebuild and usually sit under a low sub-limit, separate from the house sum insured.
If you have retaining walls, ask for the specific limit and whether a higher one is offered.
Gardens, plants, paths and driveways are usually capped well below what they'd cost to redo.
Note the cap if you have significant landscaping.
Covers you if you're legally liable for injury or damage to someone else — the largest, rarest claims.
Higher is better; check yours runs to at least a few million.
If your home is uninhabitable after a claim, this pays for somewhere to live while it's fixed — but only up to a cap, and a rebuild can take a year or more.
Check your limit, and ask whether a higher-tier product lifts it.
Re-keying after lost or stolen keys is capped — small, but often overlooked.
Minor — just know the limit.
Meth clean-up is expensive; cover is capped, often carries a large excess, and can be void if you or a tenant caused it.
If you rent the property out, ask about the meth limit and excess.
Natural-disaster claims (quake, storm, flood) often carry a large EXTRA excess on top of your standard one.
Find out your natural-hazard excess — here, lower is better.
Documented traps in Vero's wording
Sum-insured (capped) policies pay out only up to the dollar figure on your schedule. If that figure is too low to actually rebuild your home or replace your contents, you cover the difference yourself.
Use a professional rebuild calculator or get a registered valuer/quantity surveyor estimate, and review your sum insured every renewal so it reflects current build costs including demolition and fees.
In Vero's own words
“The sum insured is the figure you estimate as the total cost of rebuilding your home, including all associated costs. It is not the value of your property on the open housing market.”
“You're responsible for setting your sum insured. You must ensure at all times it is sufficient to cover loss or damage to your contents.”
Some policies (or some settlement scenarios) pay only the depreciated value of your home or contents rather than the cost to rebuild or buy new. That can be far less than what you actually need.
Check whether your policy is 'replacement' or 'indemnity/market value'. If it's indemnity, ask what a full replacement policy costs and consider switching, and always repair/rebuild within the stated time limit to keep full entitlement.
In Vero's own words
“If your home suffers a loss that we cover under this policy, we'll pay the indemnity value of your home, up to the sum insured.”
“For a total loss – the market value of the home immediately before the loss occurred.”
Loss arising from faulty design, defective workmanship, poor materials or inherent/structural defects is excluded across insurers, including weathertightness failures.
Get a building inspection before buying, address known defects, and pursue builders/warranties for defect-related damage since insurance won't cover it.
In Vero's own words
“We won't cover any loss to your home that is in any way connected to your home failing to include: materials, a design, a system, or standard of workmanship that effectively prevents or manages the presence or penetration of moisture or water that your home might be reasonably subjected to.”
Rot, mould and slow leaks are largely excluded. The small 'hidden gradual damage' benefit that remains is capped low (often $1,000–$10,000) and won't pay to find or fix the actual leak.
Check your hidden/gradual damage limit and compare insurers (they range widely). Inspect plumbing and wet areas regularly, and act on any leak immediately to avoid it being called 'gradual'.
In Vero's own words
“We'll pay up to $3,000 for any one event for the repair of gradual physical damage to your home resulting from water leaking or overflowing from any internal water system.”
Even with a big contents sum insured, individual categories like jewellery, cash, bicycles, cameras and drones are limited to a low per-item or per-category amount unless you specifically list them.
List (specify) high-value items on your schedule and check each category sub-limit. Keep receipts/valuations for jewellery, bikes, cameras and collections.
In Vero's own words
“Any bicycle (including any e-bike) $3,000, unless specified otherwise on your schedule”
If nobody sleeps in your home for a set number of consecutive days (60–90 depending on insurer), cover is stripped back to only a few named perils – and an extra excess applies.
Tell your insurer before the home will be empty beyond the limit (often 60 days) and ask about unoccupied cover. Have someone stay overnight periodically or arrange specific vacant-home cover.
In Vero's own words
“We won't cover any loss to your home while your home is: unoccupied”
Retaining walls, paths, pools, bridges and similar features are capped well below their real replacement cost – and often carry an extra natural-hazard excess.
Find the retaining-wall and 'recreational features' sub-limits on your schedule, get a rough replacement cost, and ask to increase the limit if your walls or features are valuable.
In Vero's own words
“We'll pay up to $80,000 for loss to retaining walls for any one event.”
When you move house or put contents into storage, cover is limited to a low cap or excluded altogether – and only for a short window.
Before moving or storing, tell your insurer, check the transit/storage limit and time window, and arrange specific removals or storage insurance for high-value contents.
In Vero's own words
“We won't cover loss to contents you're keeping at any other address or loaning to anyone. We also won't cover loss to contents you've moved anywhere for storage.”
Landlord policies require you to select tenants carefully and inspect the property inside and out at set intervals (e.g. every 3–6 months). Miss this and cover can be affected.
Diarise inspections at the required interval, do them at every tenant change, and keep dated written/photographic records to prove compliance.
In Vero's own words
“You or your managing agent must inspect the property inside and out, both: whenever the tenant changes, every 6 months, at a minimum.”
Methamphetamine contamination cover is capped (e.g. $30,000–$50,000), carries a large dedicated excess (often $2,500), and is excluded entirely if you or your family caused the contamination.
For rental properties, inspect regularly and test between tenants. Know your meth cap and excess, and keep evidence you weren't the source.
In Vero's own words
“The most we'll pay is $50,000 for any one event.”
Where damage isn't covered by the government natural-hazard scheme (EQC/NHCover) – for example certain structures – the insurer adds an extra excess, often $5,000, on top of any standard excess.
Read the natural-hazard/EQC excess section of your policy and budget for a $5,000+ excess. Ask your insurer exactly which parts of your property attract the higher excess.
In Vero's own words
“An additional excess of $5,000 applies to amounts we pay for these parts of your home.”
When you first take out a policy, natural-event losses (storm, flood, landslip, bushfire, volcanic, tsunami) are excluded for the first 48 to 72 hours – and some insurers exclude an already-named cyclone entirely.
Arrange cover well before any forecast severe weather. Don't leave switching or buying insurance until a storm is imminent.
In Vero's own words
“We won't cover any loss that happens during the first 72 hours of the policy, if the loss is caused by storm, flood, landslip, bush fire or volcanic activity.”
On a joint policy, a breach by any one insured person can prevent all insured people from claiming.
Make sure everyone on the policy understands the disclosure and honesty obligations. Be cautious about who is named as a joint insured.
In Vero's own words
“Any breach of the policy terms or conditions by one person will prevent all insured people from claiming under this policy.”
Claims are declined if you (or anyone covered) acted recklessly or in a grossly irresponsible/negligent way, or failed to take reasonable care.
Take obvious precautions: lock up when out, address known hazards promptly, and document that you acted reasonably. Don't assume 'accidental' always means covered.
In Vero's own words
“We won't cover loss or legal liability in the event that you are reckless or grossly negligent.”
Contents used to earn income or for business are excluded beyond a small 'home office' benefit, and home-business activity can void wider cover.
If you earn income from home, tell your insurer and arrange proper business cover. Don't assume home contents cover extends to work equipment or stock.
In Vero's own words
“We won't cover any loss or liability arising from your contents being used for business.”
Insured with Vero? Have your own policy read.
The free register shows how Vero compares in general. The personal scan reads your exact PDF against every insurer.
Drawn from Vero's published New Zealand policy wording held in the Inuio corpus and refreshed monthly. Limits and tiers change and vary by policy and cover level — general information to help you read your own policy, not financial advice. Always verify against your current wording.