No two homes are exactly alike. Even in estates with the same floorplan and build, contents values and home condition can vary widely.
It makes sense then that if your home is unique, your insurance should be equally unique. And to help you tailor your cover to fit your property, we’ll discuss how some optional extras might (or might not) come in handy for your property.
It’s also worth a quick mention up-front that we can’t offer specific advice on your circumstances. Everyone is different, and it’s up to you to decide what optional extras you should consider on your Home and/or Contents Insurance policy.
But what we can do at Budget Direct is make things simple and affordable. We don’t stack your policy with everything from the get-go – we start with broad cover (at a low price), and let you add optional extras like flood, to build the policy that works for you.
Personal Effects Cover
Personal Effects Cover provides for a higher level of cover for certain higher value items at home and when you take them out and about.
“Personal effects” can be insured one of two ways:
- Unspecified Personal Effects – These are things you haven’t necessarily listed on your policy, but take with you when you leave home. The most you can claim for any individual item is up to $1,000 and the maximum total value of all items that you have selected and which is stated on your Insurance Certificate.
- Specified Personal Effects – This includes the specific things that you list in your policy, with specific values and descriptions nominated by you. This provides you with extra peace of mind for coverage away from the home, and for amounts higher than the standard policy limit (for example expensive items like jewellery).
What’s included in Budget Direct’s Personal Effects Cover?
There are a lot of different personal effects you might want protected when you leave the house. For the full list of personal effects that are/aren’t covered, please read the Product Disclosure Statement.
To give you an idea, some items covered in our Unspecified Personal Effects include:
- baby capsules, children’s car seats and prams
- bicycles or e-bikes (that have been appropriately locked)
- jewellery
- musical instruments (not being used for business, and not in use)
- clothes, hats and furs
- picnic sets, and non-fabric camping equipment
- photographic and video equipment (and associated accessories)
- watches
- sporting equipment
- plenty more.
Learn more about Budget Direct’s Personal Effects Insurance.
Flood cover
What’s included in flood cover?
It’s important to know what “flood cover” means. In insurance-land, a “flood” is defined as the covering of normally dry land by water that has escaped (or been released from) the normal confines of:
- a lake, creek, river or other natural watercourse (regardless of whether they’ve been modified or not)
- a reservoir, canal or dam.
What is covered elsewhere in Budget Direct Home & Contents Insurance?
“Flood cover” should not be confused with other automatic covers that Budget Direct include in our Home & Contents Policy, namely:
- Storm & rainwater – Excessive rainwater from storms (including escape of rainwater from drains or gutters) is automatically included in a Home & Contents Insurance policy with Budget Direct.
- Escape of liquid – Similar to rainwater from storms, water coming from burst pipes, overflowing sinks or bathtubs is already covered in Budget Direct’s Home & Contents Insurance.
What are the general exclusions?
Just like how some automatic covers might be confused with “flood cover”, there are some general exclusions that might also be confused with “flood”.
These are the events that are excluded from your coverage:
Action of the sea, high water or underground water – Things like king tides, rises in ocean levels, storm surges from the ocean, tidal waves or underground water seepage or pressure aren’t covered in flood cover.
Learn more about Budget Direct’s Flood Insurance.
Landlord Insurance
Landlord Options cover really does what it says on the tin. This added layer of protection for landlords helps protect you against loss or damage to your investment property, and loss of rent.
What’s included in Budget Direct’s Landlord Options?
If you add Landlord Options to your Home and/or Contents Insurance, you’ll be covered for:
- Tenant default – We will pay for your net rental income up to 15 weeks if your tenant leaves or doesn’t pay their rent.
- Theft and malicious damage – You are covered for loss, damage or destruction caused by theft or malicious damage by your tenant.
Learn more about Budget Direct’s Landlord Insurance.
What else can I add to my insurance?
In addition to these three common optional extras you may be able to also consider adding:
- Accidental Damage Insurance – You may be able to add coverage for things like wine spills, breaking a valuable item, or other common day-to-day mishaps.
- Motor Burnout Cover – It’s not uncommon for motors in major appliances (such as fridges or washing machines) to break down from electrical currents or power surges. You can cover yourself against burnouts, and their associated losses (like food spoilage).
- Sum Insured Safeguard – To help avoid the risk of being underinsured (not having your payout cover what you need to repair, rebuild or replace your home), this safeguard can increase your home’s insured value by up to 25% if need be.
How do I tailor my Home & Contents Insurance to suit me?
It’s easier than you’d think to tailor your insurance to your specific needs.
If you’ve already bought a Home & Contents Insurance policy with Budget Direct, you can add optional extras by either contacting us directly, or logging into your online account and editing your policy.
Of course, if you don’t have a Home & Contents Insurance policy with Budget Direct yet, you can get a quote online in as little as 2 minutes, and save up to 30%^ on your first year’s premium.
Either way, you can select the options that suit your needs.
