Best guaranteed acceptance life insurance NZ: how the options compare

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-10-20 · Reviewed quarterly, when the underlying data is restated.

Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.

There is no single best guaranteed acceptance life insurance in New Zealand. Here is how the options differ on entry age, amount, early period, premiums, terminal illness and published rating, as at 20 October 2026. For example, Momentum Life's Quick Life offers $50,000 to $300,000 at ages 18 to 65, with a 2-year pre-existing condition exclusion and an A.M. Best rating of B (Fair).

Get a quote and apply online today

See your price in about a minute, then apply online with Momentum Life. Guaranteed acceptance, no health questions, no medical exams.

Life cover See your price Ages 18–65 · $50k–$300k Funeral cover See your price Ages 40–75 · $3k–$30k

Want more than $300k or have questions? Talk to an adviser

Life cover: Conditions you already have aren't covered for the first 2 years (premiums refunded instead). Suicide isn't covered for the first 2 years, and a few conditions can be excluded permanently.

Funeral cover: Only accidental death is covered for the first 2 years. Total premiums can add up to more than the cover, and it may not meet the whole cost of a funeral.

Insurer: Momentum Life Limited. Financial strength rating B (Fair) from AM Best, affirmed 11 February 2026; B ratings sit in AM Best's 'vulnerable' range. The rating scale is available for inspection at every Momentum Life office in New Zealand. What this means

Already have cover? Keep it. New cover won't pay for a condition you already have in its first 2 years.

Opens Momentum Life's online application; its guidance only covers eligibility. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner. Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy. General information, not advice.

Guaranteed acceptance life insurance is life cover with no health questions: the insurer accepts you if you meet its age and residency rules, then limits what it pays in the early years. In New Zealand only two life policies of this kind turned up in our search of insurers' own pages. The rest of the market that people call "no medical" either asks health questions, or is funeral cover with small benefits. The search "best life insurance with no medical exam" covers all three, so this page says which is which before it compares them.

Scope. Compared: Momentum Quick Life and Greenwich Life's QuickCover Life, with the guaranteed acceptance funeral products and cover that asks health questions noted for context, on the criteria below, as at 20 October 2026, from each insurer's own documents. Not every New Zealand insurer is included. This is QuoteHub's reading of published documents, not a score.

The criteria that matter

Entry age. The band you must fall in.
Amount. What you can buy at the start, and whether it can grow.
Early period. What is not paid for the first two years, and whether premiums come back.
Premiums. Whether they rise with age, and whether they can change.
Terminal illness. Whether a living benefit exists.
Rating. The financial strength grade of the company that pays claims, named with its agency.

None of these is a score, and we do not add them up.

How the two life products compare

	Momentum Quick Life	Greenwich Life QuickCover Life
Issuer	Momentum Life Limited	Autosure Insurance Limited (Greenwich Life is its brand)
Entry age	18 to 65	21 to 60 (cover may run to 65)
Amount	$50,000 to $300,000 per life, plus 3% yearly increases to a $500,000 cap	$50,000 to $200,000
First two years	Pre-existing conditions and suicide excluded; accident and new conditions covered	Existing conditions not covered; accidents and new conditions are
Premiums refunded for an early excluded death	Yes, for a pre-existing condition death in the first 24 months with no claim payable	Not stated on the page we read
Later exclusions	Some conditions can be permanently excluded; alcohol and drugs, war, terrorism, crime and listed dangerous jobs or pastimes always excluded	A few permanent exclusions
Premiums	Stepped yearly to 75, then fixed	Rise with age; minimum $10 a month
Terminal illness	Yes (death expected within 12 months)	Yes (12 months)
Rating	A.M. Best B (Fair)	Autosure: A.M. Best B++ (Good)

Sources: Momentum Quick Life wording (November 2025), Greenwich Life: QuickCover, Autosure: Financial strength, retrieved 17 and 20 October 2026. We have not read QuickCover Life's policy document, so some cells say what the product page says and no more.

What the table does not tell you

Price. Greenwich's QuickCover page states a minimum of $10 a month (retrieved 20 October 2026). Momentum publishes no premium, and QuoteHub publishes no exact premium for any insurer. See what guaranteed acceptance costs for ranges and method.
How claims are handled. Neither insurer publishes claims statistics we could use, and insurers define payout percentages differently, so we do not rank on them.
What the permanent exclusions are. Momentum says any are listed in your policy schedule, and the general wording does not list them.
Reviews. Review scores on provider pages are self-published, so we do not repeat them.

Financial strength, in plain words

A.M. Best calls a Financial Strength Rating an independent opinion of an insurer's ability to meet its ongoing insurance obligations; it does not address claims-payment policies or procedures and is not a recommendation (A.M. Best). On its scale, B++ and B+ are "Good" and B and B- are "Fair", where Fair means "a fair ability to meet their ongoing insurance obligations. Financial strength is vulnerable to adverse changes in underwriting and economic conditions."

Momentum Life Limited holds B (Fair), affirmed on 11 February 2026. Momentum's own table groups B in a "Vulnerable" range. Momentum reports a solvency ratio of 107% at 30 June 2026, a margin of about $0.6 million, down from 117% a year earlier (Momentum). A.M. Best's February 2026 release also describes its operating performance as marginal and notes a high level of execution risk; it does not name Quick Life. Autosure's B++ (Good) was affirmed on 10 September 2026. Insurers differ in size by up to a hundred times, so we do not rank on solvency ratios. See our insurer financial strength table.

If you search "no medical exam"

Three things get that name. Guaranteed acceptance (above) asks no health questions. Cover with health questions but no exam is common up to $500,000 at Fidelity Life and Chubb Life, who publish an application form or personal statement as their minimum evidence (Fidelity guide, Chubb guide). And funeral insurance asks no health questions but pays small benefits (Momentum's is $3,000 to $30,000) and, in the first months, only for accidents (24 months for Momentum). If you are healthy, the middle option usually offers more cover for less if you are accepted on standard terms. See guaranteed acceptance versus full medical.

For funeral products, see best funeral insurance, which compares seven. Momentum's Funeral Insurance takes ages 40 to 75, and neither life product in the table takes a new applicant over 65.

Choosing: questions, not an answer

Is your age inside both bands? Quick Life is 18 to 65; QuickCover Life 21 to 60.
How much do you need? If it is above $300,000 now, neither fits at the start; an adviser can price underwritten cover.
Could you wait two years for the early period to end? If a claim in that time is likely, neither pays for an existing condition.
Does the rating matter to you? B (Fair) and B++ (Good) are on the same scale, but they are not the same grade.
Could cover with health questions accept you? Ask first. Keep any existing policy until a new one is in force (FMA).

How QuoteHub is paid

The buttons on this page lead to Momentum's online quote, which is one option in the table, not a verdict. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver may receive a commission if you buy a Momentum policy; see how we are paid. Because of that, check each insurer's own wording. A comparison website can earn commission, and the FMA says advisers are paid commission by the insurer as a percentage of your premium (FMA). Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Plan pages: Quick Life and Funeral Insurance; start at the guaranteed acceptance hub or what guaranteed acceptance is.

Get a quote and apply online today

See your price in about a minute, then apply online with Momentum Life. Guaranteed acceptance, no health questions, no medical exams.

Life cover See your price Ages 18–65 · $50k–$300k Funeral cover See your price Ages 40–75 · $3k–$30k

Want more than $300k or have questions? Talk to an adviser

Funeral cover: Only accidental death is covered for the first 2 years. Total premiums can add up to more than the cover, and it may not meet the whole cost of a funeral.

Already have cover? Keep it. New cover won't pay for a condition you already have in its first 2 years.

Adviser's view

No guaranteed acceptance life policy wins on every point. Only two life products we found ask no health questions: Momentum's Quick Life and Greenwich Life's QuickCover Life. They differ on age band, maximum cover, rating and how much the wording tells you. If you would be accepted with health questions, that route usually gives more cover for less, so price it first.

Henry Smith, Financial Adviser (FSP1010699). General information, not personalised financial advice.

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Best Guaranteed Life Insurance NZ (2026): How to Compare. www.quotehub.co.nz/guaranteed-acceptance/best-guaranteed-acceptance-life-insurance-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.

References

Explore related pages: Life Insurance, Income Protection, Health Insurance, Trauma Insurance, Referral.