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Budget Direct Home Insurance
Budget Direct Home Insurance
Written by
Tina Sendin
Edited by
Ellie Garran
Reviewed by
Adrian Bennett
Long story short
Budget Direct offers flexible and customisable policies to suit your needs
Whether it’s home or landlord insurance, you can tailor your cover with optional add-ons.
Budget Direct provides 24/7 claims support to keep you covered anytime you need help
Its round-the-clock online and phone claims service is there for you when it matters most.
Budget Direct guarantees quality repairs
Thanks to its trusted network of partners, your home and belongings are in good hands should they need to be repaired.
Who is Budget Direct?
Budget Direct has been helping Aussies get their insurance solved since 2000.
The company has smashed it out of the park when it comes to delivering value, earning the trust of over three million customers along the way and making its mark in the insurance world!
Not one to rest on its laurels, Budget Direct has snagged Money magazine’s Insurer of the Year title a whopping eleven times, including from 2017 to 2025. It also bagged the award for Best-Value Home & Contents Insurance across multiple years from 2017 to 2020, and again from 2022 to 2026.
The list goes on with plenty of awards from other organisations, too. And the trophy cabinet isn’t just for show – it’s proof of a real commitment to top-notch products and great customer service.
Budget Direct’s insurance policies are underwritten by Auto & General Insurance Company Limited, a proudly Australian company that’s regulated by APRA and a member of the Insurance Council of Australia.
Why should I consider Budget Direct for my home insurance?
If you’re wondering what Budget Direct has got that keeps piling up the awards and winning over Aussies, here’s what it brings to the table:
24/7 claims support
Whether it’s the middle of the night or the crack of dawn, Budget Direct’s online and phone claims service is available around the clock to help you out when you need it most.
Inflation protection
Each year, Budget Direct automatically increases the sum-insured amounts in your renewal offer to help keep up with rising repair, rebuilding, and replacement costs. This way, your cover will be close to today’s costs compared to when you first got your insurance. Your premium will also be adjusted accordingly.
Guaranteed quality repairs
Repairs are handled by Budget Direct’s trusted partners, who use professionals and quality materials. This ensures your home or belongings are put back in tiptop shape without cutting corners!
Flexible excess options
Need a bit more control over your repayments? If you want to lower your premium, Budget Direct lets you raise your excess whenever you like.
What types of home insurance does Budget Direct offer?
There’s no place like home and no two homes are the same. Luckily, Budget Direct has customisable insurance policies to better suit your home and lifestyle. You can start with any of these, then add additional optional covers.
Building insurance
Also known as ‘home insurance’ or ‘home building insurance’, this type of home insurance could help protect the structure of your home from events such as storms, fire, and theft. Building insurance generally includes cover for repairs, rebuilds, and temporary accommodation.
Contents insurance
Contents insurance is a type of home insurance that covers most items inside your home, including your furniture, electronics, and other valuables. Budget Direct offers new-for-old replacement cover for your contents if they’re damaged during an insured event like a burst pipe or storm.
Combined home and contents insurance
Combined home and contents insurance covers both the structure of your home and most of the items inside it from insured events like storms, fire, or theft. This type of home insurance simplifies your coverage by rolling building insurance and contents insurance into one policy.
Landlord insurance
If you own a rental or investment property, landlord insurance is designed to help protect your home, its contents, or both from damage caused by insured events like storms, fire, or theft. This type of home insurance can also provide cover for certain landlord-specific risks, such as loss of rent or damage caused by tenants.
Helpful tip
You might want to consider combining your home and contents insurance into one policy – especially if you want all your bases covered.
Adrian Bennett
General Manager for General Insurance
Which events do Budget Direct’s home insurance policies cover?
Whether it’s a burst pipe in the middle of the night or someone breaking in, unwanted events are unfortunately something we need to think about. While you can’t stop every disaster from happening, appropriate insurance can help make it that much easier to get back on track.
Budget Direct’s home insurance helps cover your house and possessions in case of loss or damage caused by the following events:
- storm and rainwater (excluding flood)
- fire (including bushfires and grassfires)
- lightning
- theft (including attempted theft)
- escape of liquid (like a burst pipe)
- impact at home (like a fallen tree)
- breakage of glass, ceramic and sanitary fixtures
- malicious damage, vandalism, riot or civil commotion
- explosion
- earthquake or tsunami.
You can also customise your Budget Direct insurance policy with optional cover available for:
- flood cover
- personal effects (for items that you take away from your home with you, like laptops or jewellery)
- motor burnout (like for your fridge)
- accidental damage
- commercial storage (if you store your items in a storage facility)
- sum-insured safeguard (this increases your sum insured amount by up to 25% if the cost to repair, replace or rebuild your home is more than you’re insured for).
Eligibility criteria may apply.
Frequently asked questions
How do excesses work with Budget Direct home insurance?
With Budget Direct, you’ll have the option to nominate a Basic excess between $300 and $5,000 at anytime. Choose a higher excess and lower premiums, or a lower excess and higher premiums.
How do I make a home insurance claim with Budget Direct?
When it’s time to make a claim, Budget Direct has a simple process. After all, who needs to be dealing with endless phone calls and paperwork while trying to get things back to normal?
1. Check your cover
Before you lodge a claim, you can review your cover to see what’s included. However, if you’re in any doubt as to whether your loss or damage is covered, you can still lodge a claim and it will be assessed accordingly.
2. Have your info close to hand
To help your claim progress swiftly, Budget Direct needs to know the details of what happened, including the time, date and location, and any photos of the damage. If you have one, include the police report too. It can be a good idea to have all of these documents and information ready to go when you start your claim.
Depending on your claim, you can also lodge any other damage reports or proof of ownership now. However, if you haven’t got them yet, you could still get your claim started. You can add this information to the claim later as needed.
3. Lodge your claim
Once you’ve collected all of the relevant information, your next step is to decide how you want to make a claim. You can choose between notifying Budget Direct of your claim online, or calling so that one of Budget Direct’s friendly team members can assist you. Rest assured that, whether you choose to claim online or over the phone, you’ll be able to start your claim 24/7.
With your claim in Budget Direct’s court, the assessment starts. This may include reaching out to you for more information or having someone come to assess the damage. Once Budget Direct has all the relevant information, it’ll make a decision within 10 working days – unless you hear otherwise or there are special circumstances. You won’t be left hanging either way.
If the claim has been accepted, Budget Direct will repair, replace or pay you cash for your insured damages or losses up to the sum insured. If a repair is in order, you’ll receive the details of the repairs or replacement. A professional or qualified tradie will then complete the repair (which is also guaranteed)!
Which payment options are available for Budget Direct home insurance?
Using direct debit, credit card, or debit card, you can choose to pay your Budget Direct home insurance premium fortnightly, monthly, or yearly. Each has its own benefits, but the yearly option works out the cheapest.
Can I access my Budget Direct account online for home insurance?
You can check and manage heaps of your Budget Direct insurance details anytime through your online account. That includes things like your contact info, payment details, sums insured, excesses, and any add-on covers you’ve got. Best part? You can log in whenever it suits you, on any device, 24/7.
Where can I compare Budget Direct Home Insurance?
If your existing home insurance (or lack thereof) is leaving you feeling less than happy, iSelect can help. You can use the iSelect comparison tool to learn about Budget Direct’s home insurance options alongside policies from other providers.
Get started on comparing home and contents today!
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