Renewing home insurance
How do I renew my home insurance?
At least 14 days before your Budget Direct home and/or contents insurance policy expires, we’ll send you a renewal notice.
Unless you’ve requested otherwise, your policy is set to renew automatically – saving you having to remember and reducing the risk of your home and/or contents being uninsured.
How to respond to your Budget Direct renewal notice
If your policy is set to... | And you want it to be... | Do this... |
---|---|---|
Auto-renewal (default) | Renewed | Nothing |
Not renewed | Call 1800 182 310 | |
Manual renewal | Renewed | Log into your online account or call 1800 182 310 |
Not renewed | Call 1800 182 310 |
Can I opt out of auto-renewal?
Yes – if you prefer, you can opt out of auto-renewal and renew your Budget Direct home and/or contents insurance manually instead.
To opt out, please contact us.
My policy renewal notice shows my premium has increased – why?
There are several possible reasons your premium has risen – even though your personal circumstances don’t appear to have changed.
For example, at the end of each insurance period, we automatically increase your home and contents sums insured to help them keep pace with rising costs.
This requires us to charge a higher premium for the increased cover.
Your higher premium could also be due to a change in your risk profile and/or increased business costs caused by extreme weather events, for example.
Do I have to accept the higher sum insured in my policy renewal notice?
At the end of each insurance period, we automatically increase your home and contents sums insured to help them keep pace with rising costs.
If you prefer, you can decline the higher sums insured by contacting us or logging into your online account and editing your policy.
For example, if your house was insured for $500K and we increased it to $550K, you would need to change the sum insured to one that you’re happy with.
Note that the sum insured is the maximum amount we’ll pay to replace your home and contents.
It’s therefore important you’re comfortable the amount you nominate is sufficient to replace your home and contents at today’s prices.
Is there a cooling-off period for renewals?
Yes – a cooling-off period applies not only to new Budget Direct home and/or contents insurance policies but also to policy renewals.
The cooling-off period starts on the date your policy renews and lasts for 21 days.
If you change your mind within that time, you can cancel your policy and – if you haven’t made a claim – get your policy-renewal payment back.