24/7 Claims
With Budget Direct, you can conveniently make a claim online or over the phone at any time of the day or night, 365 days a year.
What's protected by Combined Home and Contents Insurance?
Your Combined Home and Contents Insurance policy covers the cost of repairing or replacing a damaged or destroyed house, garden shed, fence and other structures on your property based on your sum insured amount. In case of a fire, severe weather or another insured event covered by the policy, you can protect the house you made into a home – the place where your family’s foundations are built.
With Combined Home and Contents Insurance cover, you can be protected against the cost of repairing or replacing lost or damaged possessions that are inside your home. This refers to everything from your dining table to your favourite jeans. As part of your new-for-old replacement cover, if an insured event like a storm, fire or burst pipe results in loss or damage to your possessions, we can replace your contents with new ones.
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.
You’ll be covered for up to 90 consecutive days for loss or damage for up to 20% of your contents sum insured caused by an insured event within Australia when you are staying away from the insured home as detailed in the PDS. Rest assured that some of your contents may still be protected whether you’re at the coast on holiday or visiting family.
Rest assured, we'll cover the removal of debris and extra rebuilding costs of up to 10% of your sum insured.
To ensure your 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, spare parts or accessories (e.g. for motor vehicles, trailers and caravans) up to $500.
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.
We'll cover up to $7,000 of funeral expenses if you, your family or a household member suffer a fatal injury due to an insured event at your home.
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.
We can cover you for loss of net rental income up to 10% of the building sum insured amount for the period your investment property is unliveable due to an insured event.
You can also be covered for loss or damage to floor coverings, internal window coverings, and light fittings — up to 5% of your home sum insured
Keep in mind, to get a quote for Landlord Insurance, you’ll start the quote process for a Home Insurance policy and answer the relevant questions about whether or not you rent out the property you’re looking to insure.
Learn more about Landlord Insurance Options
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
Find out more about what cover we offer in your state
In comparison to their previous insurers’ premiums, customers across Australia who switched to Budget Direct Combined Home and Contents Insurance told us they saved an average of
$###†
You can use our Comparitron™ tool to compare Home Insurance savings as reported by other Budget Direct customers.
Price Comparison Figures
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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 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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Business activity (not including Home Office)
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Communicable disease
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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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Loss of data (including access denial, recovery, reinstallation or replacement of data)
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.
Award-Winning Home and Contents Insurance
After comparing the cost and features of 67 products offered by 49 providers, Canstar presented us with the National award for Outstanding Value Home & Contents Insurance for the eighth year in a row in 2024.
We’ve also won Money magazine’s Insurer of the Year title eight years running (2017–2024) and Best of the Best title for Home & Contents Insurance (2022–2025).
Upgrade Your Cover
Need more cover? For an additional premium, you can customise your Home and Contents Insurance policy by adding one or more of the following optional covers:
If you take out optional Flood Cover, this can cover you against loss or damage caused by a flood.§
We define a ‘flood’ as the covering of normally dry land by water that has escaped or been released from the normal confines of a lake, river, creek or other natural watercourse (whether or not any of them have been altered or modified) or a reservoir, canal, or dam.
Learn more about Flood Cover
§ The addition of Flood Cover to a policy is subject to our underwriting criteria.
Motor Burnout Cover covers you for loss or damage to electric motors that are less than ten years old if the motor burns out due to an electric current or power surge. Electric motors are commonly found in home appliances like fridges, freezers, or washing machines. If you have Contents insurance, we can also pay for related food spoilage as a result of motor burnout.
Learn more about Motor Burnout
Accidental damage is loss or damage caused by a sudden, unintended and unexpected event that is not the result of a deliberate act – useful if you want to be covered for some damage that’s not automatically included as part of your Home and Contents Insurance. For example, spilling red wine on a carpet by mistake, or unintentionally dropping and breaking a fragile item, such as a vase.
Learn more about Accidental Damage
Personal Effects Cover insures the personal belongings you take with you away from your home (such as jewellery, sunglasses and cameras). This benefit is sometimes known as Portable Contents Cover.
Learn more about Personal Effects
With Commercial Storage Cover, you’ll be insured for loss or damage by an insured event to your belongings while they're stored in a commercial storage facility.
If the cost to replace, repair or rebuild your home exceeds the amount of your nominated sum insured, Sum Insured Safeguard means we’ll increase it by up to 25% (e.g. from $400,000 to $500,000) to help cover the necessary repairs.
How do I add an optional cover to my home insurance policy?
You can add one or more of these optional covers when you get a quote and buy a policy.
Or – if you’ve already bought a policy – add optional cover by contacting us or logging into your online account and editing your policy.
How much cover do I need?
When you buy Combined Home and Contents Insurance, it's up to you to determine how much it would cost to replace your home and contents if they were destroyed, for example, by fire. This is known as the ‘sum insured’.
These are the maximum amounts we’ll pay after an insured event, so it’s important that the sum insured you nominate is sufficient to replace your entire home and all of your contents at today’s prices.
To simplify your insurance journey, we have some calculators to help you work out how much home insurance you might need.
If your property and/or contents suffer loss or damage, or are destroyed by an insured event and you need to make a claim, we’re here to help.
Budget Direct customers can make a claim, view and edit their Home & Contents Insurance policies, and buy more insurance online.
The information on this page is a summary only. For more details about Budget Direct Home & Contents Insurance, including the terms, conditions, limits and exclusions that apply, please read the, Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
Looking for another level of cover?
Do you only want to insure your home in case of an insured event? Or perhaps you're looking to only insure your belongings. With Budget Direct's separate Home Building Insurance or our Contents Insurance policies, you can get 15%^ off your first year's premium when you purchase a new policy 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.
Learn more about Landlord Insurance
Do you rent the home you live in? If you’re a tenant, you can protect your valuable possessions with Budget Direct Renters Insurance.
Learn more about Renters Insurance
Home and Contents Insurance FAQs
‘Home insurance’ is an umbrella term that encompasses three variations of cover:
Home and Contents Insurance covers your house and other structures on your property (such as a garage or shed) as well as your belongings for loss or damage due to an insured event like a fire, theft and storm. It is also known as Building and Contents Insurance.
Home Building Insurance covers your house and other structures on your property, including your garden shed, fences and in-ground swimming pool for loss or damage from an insured event.
Contents Insurance covers the belongings inside your home, including furniture, whitegoods, electrical appliances, clothing, and more for loss or damage from an insured event.
Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply to Budget Direct home insurance; for full details, please read the product disclosure statement.
There are several ways you can reduce your Budget Direct home and/or contents insurance cost, including:
- Selecting the right level of home insurance cover: Our range of optional covers means you'll only pay for the cover you need. For example, you don’t have to pay for flood cover if you don’t think you need it.
- Buying your home insurance policy online: If you get a quote and buy a policy online, you’ll receive 15%^ off (Home Building Insurance only or Contents Insurance only) or 30%^ off (Home and Contents Insurance) on your first year’s premium.
- Increasing your home insurance excess: When getting Home Insurance, you'll choose an excess from $100 to $5,000; by increasing your excess, you could lower your premium. Always choose an excess you’ll be comfortable to pay at claim time.
- Paying your home insurance premium annually: By paying Home and Contents Insurance policies annually instead of in instalments (i.e. fortnightly or monthly), you’ll pay a lower premium and avoid instalment processing fees.
Insuring your home and/or contents with Budget Direct is quick and easy:
Decide whether you want home and/or contents insurance.
Get a quote – we’ll ask you some questions about you and your home and/or contents.
If you’re happy with the quote, apply for cover. If we agree to insure your home and/or contents, your cover will start on the date you select.
Your lawyer or conveyancer will usually recommend Home Insurance for your home (or investment property) when you exchange signed copies of the purchase contract with the seller.
Also, most mortgage lenders require you to take out Home Insurance before the loan becomes unconditional.
Your home and/or contents can be covered for floods if you include Budget Direct’s optional Flood Cover in your policy.
This Home Insurance cover protects you against loss or damage caused by a flood.
We define a ‘flood’ as the covering of normally dry land by water that has escaped or been released from the normal confines of a lake, river, creek or other natural watercourse (whether or not any of them have been altered or modified) or a reservoir, canal, or dam.
You can apply to add Flood Cover to your home and/or contents cover when you get a quote and buy home insurance or – if you’ve already bought cover – by calling us on 1800 182 310 or logging into your online account and editing your policy.
If you meet our underwriting criteria, we’ll approve your application.
Note that your Flood Cover will take effect 72 hours after you add it to your Home Insurance policy, unless the policy:
- commenced immediately after another policy covering the same risks expired, without a break in cover
- commenced on the same day you bought your home or moved to a new address.
We offer Personal Effects cover as an optional extra for your contents insurance. This can cover a wide range of categories of belongings, including:
bicycles
clothing
jewellery/watches
musical instruments
photographic equipment
sporting equipment
medical aids
mobile phones (specified only)
laptops/tablets (specified only)
e-scooters.
To find out how much this coverage might cost, you can get a quote online.
