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Budget Direct paid out over $1.5 billion on car + home insurance claims in the last 12 months.
What's protected by Home and Contents Insurance?
Your home and contents insurance covers you for loss or damage to repair or rebuild your house, garden shed, fences, and other structures on your property from events listed in your policy as covered. This coverage is based on the total amount you have insured them for. If something like a fire, storm, or another covered event happens, your policy helps protect the house you live in.
What about all the things inside your house? Whether it’s your furniture or appliances, if these items suffer loss or damage because of a storm, fire, or a burst pipe, your combined home and contents insurance can help. If the loss or damage is covered by the policy, we’ll cover the cost to repair or replace them with new items, so you don't have to worry.
Benefits Included in Home and Contents Insurance
We can cover costs for temporary accommodation for up to a year for your family and pets if your house is unliveable due to an insured event. Whether you'll be staying in a hotel for a few days or you need a long-term rental, we'll help make sure there's a roof over your head while your home is restored.
Home and Contents Insurance includes up to $20 million in legal liability cover. Legal liability can cover you for the death or physical injury to other people, or for loss or damage to other people’s property caused by an accident. Home Building Insurance provides legal liability cover at the insured address. Contents Insurance provides legal liability cover anywhere in Australia.
When you make a claim on your Home and Contents Insurance policy, we guarantee the quality of all authorised repairs, including the materials and workmanship provided. With the help of our trusted partners, you can rest assured that all authorised repairs will be performed properly as you rebuild your home.
When you take your belongings with you on trips within Australia, they may still be covered for up to 90 days. If they suffer loss or damage from a covered event while you’re on holiday or visiting family, we can help. This coverage is for up to 20% of what your contents are insured for. Always check your policy for the full details.
If your home or contents are damaged by an insured event, we'll cover the removal of debris and extra rebuilding costs of up to 10% of your sum insured.
To ensure your house and belongings remain secure, we will pay up to $1,000 to replace stolen keys, locks and key codes.
If your home is completely destroyed as a result of an insured event, and we have agreed to settle your claim as a total loss, we’ll pay for legal and administrative costs of up to $750 to discharge your mortgage.
We'll cover loss or damage to unattached equipment or accessories from motor vehicles, watercraft, trailers and caravans up to $500. Examples could be a portable EV charger or roof racks.
We can cover modifications to your home up to $5,000 to support you if you suffer from permanent paraplegia or quadriplegia due to an insured event at your insured address.
To help keep pace with rising costs due to inflation, each year we’ll automatically increase the sum insured amounts of your home and contents and adjust your premium accordingly. This means your cover will reflect more current replacement costs than when your home and contents were first insured.
We do not automatically increase the sums insured for specified items or personal effects items. So, it’s important to review the value of these items regularly to make sure they are sufficiently insured for the cost of replacement.
Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. For full details, please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)
Get a Quote Online and Save 30%^
If you get a quote and buy a new Combined Home and Contents Insurance policy online, you’ll receive a 30%^ discount on your first year’s premium.
Compare Home and Contents Insurance Savings
Price Comparison Figures
How to Save on Home Insurance
- Select the policy that’s right for you. With Budget Direct, you only pay for what you need, thanks to our optional extras cover.
- Buy your policy online, and save. Go online, and you can save 15% (Home or Contents) or 30% (Combined Home and Contents) discount on your first year’s premium.
- Raise your excess. When you do this, you pay more when making a claim so you may end up with a lower annual or monthly premium.
What's covered by Home and Contents Insurance?
Budget Direct Home and Contents Insurance covers your house and personal possessions against loss or damage caused by the following insured events:
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Storm (including cyclone) and rainwater (does not cover any loss or damage caused by flood). If this doesn't meet your needs, you can add optional flood cover§.
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Fires (including bushfires and grassfires)
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Lightning
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Theft (or attempted theft)
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Escape of liquid (e.g. burst pipe)
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Impact at home (e.g. fallen tree)
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Breakage of glass, ceramic and sanitary fixtures
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Malicious damage, vandalism, riot or civil commotion
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Explosion
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Earthquake or tsunami
What’s not covered by Home and Contents Insurance?
Budget Direct Home and Contents Insurance does not cover you for loss or damage for every circumstance. There are exclusions such as:
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Action of the sea (eg. high tide, tidal wave)
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Asbestos
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Breaking the law
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Contamination or pollution
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Defects, structural faults, or design faults
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Hacking or cyberattacks
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Gradual deterioration such as rust, corrosion, rot, mould, wear and tear.
Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Please read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for full details on what’s covered by Budget Direct Home and Contents Insurance.
Upgrade Your Cover of Combined Home Insurance
Need more cover? For an additional cost, you can customise your Home and Contents Insurance policy by adding one or more of the following optional covers. You can add one or more of these optional covers when you get a quote and buy a policy. If you’ve already bought a policy you can add optional cover by contacting us or logging into your online account and editing your policy.
If you choose to add Flood to your insurance, it can help pay for damage caused by a flood, including when water from a lake, river, creek, or even a dam overflows and covers land that is usually dry.
Learn more about Flood Cover
§ The addition of Flood Cover to a policy is subject to our underwriting criteria.
Motor Burnout helps you if an electric motor in your home appliances stops working because it burns out from an electric current or power surge. This cover is for motors that are less than ten years old. You'll find motors in things like your fridge, freezer, or washing machine.
Learn more about Motor Burnout
This extra cover is ideal for protecting against damage that isn’t usually part of your standard home insurance. For instance, if you accidentally knock over a vase and it breaks, or spill something on your carpet, Accidental Damage cover could help.
Learn more about Accidental Damage
Personal Effects cover protects your personal items when you take them outside your home. This includes things like your jewellery, sunglasses, and cameras.
Learn more about Personal Effects
If you need to store some of your belongings in a storage facility, we will cover any loss, including theft or fire, to ensure your belongings will be protected even when they are not in your home.
With home insurance, you choose the amount you think it would cost to replace the home. This is called the ‘sum insured’. But sometimes the actual cost may be more.
Sum Insured Safeguard is an extra layer of protection for your home. If the cost to replace, repair or rebuild your home exceeds the sum insured you nominated, we’ll increase it by up to 25% (e.g. from $400,000 to $500,000) to help cover the necessary repairs.
How much cover do I need?
When you purchase Combined Home and Contents Insurance, you must determine the 'sum insured’, which is the cost to replace your home and belongings if they're destroyed by a covered event, for example, a fire. This sum insured is the maximum we will pay following an insured event, so it's crucial to choose an amount sufficient to replace everything at current prices.
For your home building insurance, make sure you consider the full cost to rebuild your home from scratch. This should include current material and labour costs, and take into account any home improvements or site-specific challenges.
To work out how much your contents insurance should be, estimate the cost of replacing what you own with new items. Go room by room, making a list of how much it would cost to replace your belongings today; don't forget things like clothes, kitchen stuff, and furniture.
To make your insurance journey easier, we have some calculators to help you work out how much home insurance you might need.
What Do I Need to Prepare for a Home Insurance Quote?
Looking for a home insurance quote? Here are a few things you should organise.
Details About Your Home
This includes:
Your address of your property, construction materials, number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
Any outstanding features of your property, such as security systems.
A history of claims.
Personal Details
Your full name and date of birth.
Contact information.
Occupancy details (do you live in the home, or will you be renting it out?)
How Much Should I Insure For?
You should get an estimate of how much it would cost to completely rebuild your home from the ground up if it were totally destroyed (not its market value).
Looking for another level of cover?
15%^OFF
on your first year’s premium for a new policy purchased online
Home Building Insurance helps pay to repair or rebuild your house, garden shed, fences, and other outdoor buildings on your property if they get damaged or destroyed. It’s all about protecting the house you've made into a home.
15%^OFF
on your first year’s premium for a new policy purchased online
Contents Insurance protects personal items you own inside your home if they suffer loss or damage. If something covered by your policy happens, like a storm, fire, or a burst pipe - and your belongings are damaged, we can replace them with brand new items.
30%^OFF
on your first year’s premium for a new combined policy purchased online
Owner-occupiers aren't the only ones who may benefit from insuring their property. You can also protect your investment property with Budget Direct Landlord Insurance.
15%^OFF
on your first year’s premium for a new policy purchased online
Do you rent the home you live in? If you’re a tenant, you can protect your valuable possessions with Budget Direct Renters Insurance.
Home and Contents Insurance FAQs
You should check with a lawyer or conveyancer when you should insure your home (or investment property), this is often when you exchange signed copies of the purchase contract with the seller.
Also, most mortgage lenders require you to take out insurance before the loan becomes unconditional.
For more information, read our helpful guide on if you need home insurance before settlement.
If you’ve contracted someone to build your house, you can contact us to get it insured when you have obtained the certificate of occupancy.
Get a quote online and receive a discount on your premium; or call us on 1800 700 027.
