Our history.

Star Insurance Specialists is a New Zealand owned and operated company created especially for Kiwi drivers and their vehicles. Our innovative approach to insurance has made us an industry leader. Offering specific policy types means we can truly understand the needs of our customers and their vehicles to provide insurance policies that are as unique as they are. We set out to know everything there is to know about RVs, Motorcycles, Prestige, Vintage, Classic, Project & Performance, Motorsport and European cars. We continue to learn new stuff as technology is added to vehicles all the time

Pioneering personal insurance
Our founder John Baker cut his teeth as an insurance cadet with Prudential back in 1967 and carved out a career with a range of insurance companies over the next decade. In 1979 John started his own insurance broker business, pioneering providing insurance broking services to the Small Medium Enterprise businesses primarily based in the new commercial hubs and districts of South Auckland (Otahuhu through to East Tamaki, Onehunga through to Papakura). There was a focus on heavy transport and earthmoving risks along with personal insurance for many of the owner-operators and directors of these companies.

Leading the pack
In 1989 John Baker Insurance Brokers created a new motorcycle insurance product developed for Ulysses Motorcycle Club. This took off with the Ulysses members and over the next few years many other bike clubs and their members such as the BMW Owners Register, Harley Owners Group and others joining the pack of happy riders.

Defining a niche
The motorcycle policy John had developed and brokered to an insurance company was so specialised and attractive, other insurance brokers started to promote the insurance policy to their clients. An opportunity then arose for John Baker to establish a separate wholesaling insurance business called a Master General Agency. In case you’re wondering, Master General Agents or Underwriting Agents act as a wholesaler of insurance policies on behalf of Insurance Company partners to independent insurance brokers, their clients and customers directly.

A Star is born
In 2002 Star Underwriting Agents Limited (known as Star or Star Insurance) launched and over the next 20 years has cemented its place as the industry leader for specialist vehicle insurance.

In 2007 the insurance brokerage was purchased by an international insurance broker but Star Underwriting Agents Ltd was not part of the purchase. The sale of the insurance brokerage allowed John to solely focus on developing Star Insurance products for other niche and specialist types of motor vehicles. The next product John developed was Prestigio Insurance. Prestigio was a product specifically tailored for high-value and aspirational vehicles. Vehicles that (at the time) had values higher than $50,000 and were not manufactured in either Australia or Japan. Since Prestigio Insurance (now rebranded to Star Insurance Prestige) was introduced 15 years ago, the value of vehicles it now insures is over $2 billion.

Specialising in specialist vehicles
In 2010 an opportunity arose to insure caravans and motorhomes and distribute this specialist insurance policy through independent insurance brokers and motorhome dealers who up to this time did not have a specialist motorhome or caravan policy they were able to recommend for their clients and their specialist vehicles. We designed a policy that addressed the unique attributes found in motorhomes and Camper Care (now rebranded to Star Insurance CamperCare) was launched in New Zealand. Star Insurance CamperCare is the only insurance policy that has been independently designed to suit the needs of motorhomers and is available at standardised pricing to everyone who owns a motorhome regardless of whether they are a member of the New Zealand Motorhome & Caravan Association (NZMCA) or any other motorhome club or association. Star now insures more than $1 billion of motorhomes and caravans.

What’s new in the Star galaxy
We continue to research trends and developments in the niche and specialist motor vehicle industries. What excites us is the development of electric and alternative fuel (hydrogen) for vehicle propulsion. We are currently putting the finishing touches on a specialist insurance policy designed specifically for electric vehicles, including the specialist repair and transport skills, tools, and facilities required when accidents happen.

Likewise, we continue to work with our repairer partners to ensure that only the most current and environmentally friendly repair products and paints are used. And where it comes with replacement parts we ensure all parts are recycled. This includes our market-leading network operations ensuring that electric vehicle batteries are recycled using the current Li-Ion recycling technologies.