Sometimes the claims process can be stressful, and we’re here to help. Our friendly team is here if you’ve never made a claim before, have questions you can’t find an answer to or need some extra support throughout the claims process.
How can we help?
There is some information you can review to help you gauge whether your loss or damage is covered.
Having some key information on hand can make it easier to claim 24/7.
We'll review your claim and look after your assessment and repairs.
The Claims Process
Making a claim might feel a bit daunting, especially if you've never done it before. You can start the process by following these simple steps.
Introducing Auto & General
Auto & General are the underwriters for Budget Direct and handle all Budget Direct Car Insurance claims. So when we assign a Claims Specialist from Auto & General to your claim, you can trust you’re in safe, experienced hands.
Frequently Asked Questions
A car insurance excess is the fixed amount you pay towards a claim.
Depending on the circumstances of the incident that led to your claim, you may have to pay more than one excess: your Basic Excess plus any additional excesses that apply.
For example, if someone under the age of 21 causes an accident while driving your car, you’ll have to pay your Basic Excess (let’s assume it’s $600) plus an additional excess of $600 due to the driver’s age.
It means that, if the damage bill was $5,000, say, you would pay $1,200 and we would pay $3,800.
Your Basic Excess and the additional excesses are shown on your Insurance Certificate.
If you make a claim, we’ll tell you which excesses apply and when and how to pay them.
You won’t have to pay an excess if the accident is deemed a no-fault accident.
Yes — accidents happen.
Simply lodge your claim. Once your claim has been accepted, pay the applicable excess/es. We’ll then settle the claim with the other driver’s insurer (or, if they’re uninsured, the other driver).
Unless you have NCD Protection, your no-claim discount will be reduced by two years on renewal of your policy.
Each repair job is different, so it’s difficult to say for certain how long each job will take. Some can take a few days, others up to two weeks or more, depending on the severity of the damage.
The repairer will give you an estimate of how long the job is likely to take and keep you informed of progress.
Budget Direct has a national network of around 180 repairers who can assess your car's damage and/or repair it. We also have seven dedicated assessment centres.
When you lodge your claim via your online account or over the phone (1300 139 591) you will be able to secure your booking.
If we decide your car is a write-off, we’ll negotiate with you to either:
- pay you the amount your car is insured for (market or agreed value); or
- Within two years or 40,000km (whichever comes first) of the original registration (Gold Comprehensive Car Insurance)
- replace your car with a new one of the same make, model and specification if you purchased the car new or as a demo model and it becomes a total loss:
If a new replacement car is not available in Australia, we will pay you the amount you originally paid for the car.
- replace your car with a new one of the same make, model and specification if you purchased the car new or as a demo model and it becomes a total loss:
If your car is financed, we're obliged to pay the finance company any money you still owe them first. We'll then pay you any residual from the insured amount.
We’ll also arrange and pay for your written-off car to be towed away from the repair shop and disposed of.
You can nominate your preferred repairer as long as your policy includes the ‘choice of repairer’ policy option.
If you nominate your preferred repairer, and they are not a repairer from our repair network, we’ll ask you to provide us with the repairer’s quotation for the repairs so we can determine whether:
- the quotation is competitive, and
- the proposed repair method is satisfactory.
If either of these criteria is not met, we may decide not to authorise the repairs, and instead offer you the option of:
- having your car repaired by an alternative repairer chosen by us, or
- paying you the reasonable cost to satisfactorily repair your car.
If the car is unsafe to drive, we will pay the cost to tow the car to your preferred repairer up to a maximum of 100 kilometres.
Note that, if we authorise your nominated repairer to undertake the repairs, we’ll guarantee the quality of the repairs but not the time it takes to complete them.
Contact Us
No matter whether it’s online or over the phone, you can contact us 24/7.
You can notify us of your claim online and we'll call you if we need further information.
Chat with a member from our claims team on Monday-Friday from 7am-8pm AEST and on weekends from 7am-4pm AEST.
A friendly member of our claims team will assist you over the phone.
