Budget Direct Home Insurance Review
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Bonus
Finder Award Finalist
Summary
Budget Direct is a great value home and contents insurance provider. It was highly commended in the 2025 Finder Home Insurance Awards for its coverage and affordability.
Pros
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Budget Direct's Home & Contents Insurance policies are cheaper than the national average, according to Finder research.
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Save 30% when you buy a combined home and contents insurance policy online. T&Cs apply.
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Budget Direct has a high Finder Score of 9.2/10.
Cons
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You'll need to pay extra if you want flood cover – with many other insurers, this is automatically included.
Details
Product details
| Fire, Storm & Theft Damage | |
| Flood | Optional |
| Accidental damage | Optional |
| Escape of Liquid | |
| Temporary Accommodation | 10% of sum insured - Up to 12 months |
| Replacement of Locks | Up to $1,000 |
| Electrical Motor Burnout | Optional |
| Impact (including fallen trees) | |
| Jewellery | up to $1,000 per item, up to $5,000 in total |
| Sum Insured Safeguard | Optional |
Congratulations, Budget Direct!
Budget Direct has once again received a Highly Commended award for its value for money. Its comprehensive home and contents insurance has consistently been one of the most affordable policies in the market, combining essential benefits and affordability seamlessly.
- Highly Commended, Best Value Home & Contents Insurance
Full list of 2025 home insurance winners
Detailed overview of Budget Direct Home & Contents Insurance
Feature | Definition | Budget Direct's coverage |
|---|---|---|
Fire, storm & theft damage | Covers loss from fire, storms, or theft. | |
Covers damage from burst pipes or leaks. | ||
Pays for housing if your home becomes unlivable. | 10% of sum insured - Up to 12 months | |
Replacement of locks | Covers costs to replace stolen or damaged locks. | Up to $1,000 |
Impact (including fallen trees) | Covers damage from falling objects like trees. | Yes |
Insures loss or damage to valuable jewellery. | $5,000 |
Optional add-ons
- Flood - Provides cover to your home and contents from flooding events.
- Electrical motor burnout - Repairs or replaces burnt-out household motors. E.g fridge, washing machine.
- Underinsurance protection - Provides an extra 25% of cover if underinsured during claims. E.g. rebuild costs are $700,000 but you're only insured for $600,000.
- Accidental damage - Provides protection for accidental loss or damage to your insured home and contents.
- Portable contents cover - Provides cover for items when they're taken out of the home. Like laptops and jewellery.
How to make a claim
You can make a claim with Budget Direct online or over the phone. The process will look like this:
- You'll need to collect all the information of the incident; what happens, when, where. Plus any photos and police reports.
- Lodge your claim online or over the phone.
- Once Budget Direct has all the information they need, they'll make a decision within 10 working days. If your claim will take longer, you should be told this.
- Someone may be sent to assess the damage or loss.
- A decision will be made and if your claim has been accepted, actions will be taken to either compensate you for the damages or for repairs to be made.
Claims information
Budget Direct home insurance is provided by Auto & General. In the last financial year, The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) received 17 complaints in relation to Budget Direct's home and contents insurance, 4 of which were resolved at registration and referral, giving Budget Direct a resolution rate of 23.52%. Compared to other large insurers, this is pretty low.
See more details in the table below.
Compare other products from Budget Direct
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Frequently asked questions
- Budget Direct Home & Contents, Building and Contents Insurance information page
- Budget Direct Home & Contents, Building and Contents Insurance information PDF
- Budget Direct Home & Contents, Building and Contents Insurance TMD
- Budget Direct, The claims process
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority, Complaints by firm
- 2025 Finder Home Insurance Awards
All user-submitted reviews must meet our review guidelines. These set out our standards and expectations, including that the review is from by a genuine user of the relevant product or service and that it is honest, authentic and respectful. We explicitly prohibit fake or otherwise misleading reviews and we check all submissions, but we make no guarantee as to the authenticity of any published review or reviewer. Some reviews may be submitted (regardless of sentiment) in exchange for entry into any competition(s) for which we are the promoter.
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Publisher of Insurance
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Tim Bennett Finder
April 11, 2025
Hey Lyn, thanks for the question.
First thing to say is that the Finder score is really focused on features and price, rather than customer service. The reason Budget Direct tends to score highly is because it offers a really good set of features for the price point, based on the thousands of sample quotes we collected every year.
Now that said, customer service is really important – maybe the most important. The reviews on our site, and any site for that matter, are only indicative, and can never give you the full picture. Unfortunately something that often happens with insurance is that reviews and comments are mostly left by people who have had a bad experience with their claims – we find these folks are much more likely to leave negative comments. Don’t disregard them, but also take them with a grain of salt.
I’m not aware of anything that has specifically change with Budget Direct’s claims process. Although I will note that home insurance prices have been going up over the last few years, mostly because the changing climate is causing bigger and more destructive storms – even if you don’t live in areas where this has been specifically happening, your premiums can still be affected.
The best piece of advice I can give you is not to simply renew – get a quote from a few other insurance companies and see if there are cheaper options around. If there are, give your current insurer a call and see if they’ll give you a deal in your renewal. It doesn’t always work, but it gives you the chance to see what else is out there, and can sometimes get a better deal from your current fund.
Best of luck!
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Sarah Megginson Finder
December 09, 2024
Hi Van,
You may have received your renewal as an email that has accidentally been directed to spam, or sent to an email address you no longer use. You should contact Budget Direct directly on 1800 069 336 as soon as possible to ensure your policy is still valid and to check the renewal price. If it’s too high, you can always shop around and compare for a cheaper deal.
Hope this helps!
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Deland van Wieringen
July 04, 2024
I property is up for sale and is not occupied. I will like to insure it for a Month till it is sold.
Sarah Megginson Finder
July 16, 2024
Hi Deland,
Your best bet is to click on the button that says “GET DEAL” or “GET A QUOTE” and arrange a policy. You can then cancel the insurance policy on the day of settlement.
Julie
February 15, 2022
I would like to know if you offer third-party injury insurance for untenanted properties, e.g. for work by tradespeople and during home opens.
James Martin Finder
March 09, 2022
Hi Julie,
Construction insurance can offer protection that includes legal liability for workers in your home. It can be arranged pre-project or taken out as an annual policy. Here are more details.
You may want to speak to an insurer directly to confirm they’ll cover open home visits. If they won’t, you may need to find specialist cover.
Regards,
James
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Anna
November 08, 2019
Is accidental damage caused by flooding covered? ( Such as from forgetting bath taps on)?
Ash
November 08, 2019
Hi Anna,
Thanks for contacting Finder.
No, Flood is not included on any of Budget Direct’s policies but you may have it added as it is one of their optional benefit. Also, each of their policy has an ‘Escape of liquid’ which will cover the damages caused by burst or leaking water pipes and overflowing sinks, basins, baths and appliances.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Ash
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Lyn
April 10, 2025
Good afternoon, We are looking to renew our Budget Direct Home & Contents policy. However, some of the reviews (which are not very recent) are very offputting. Are you aware of any changes to Budget Direct’s approach to some of the claims I have been reading about? Also I was comparing BD with Australia Post. Aus Post seems to have a lot going for it. We are in our 70’s and would be mortified if the insurance company did not live up to its 9.6 (?) score. Insurance companies want our money, but we need honest (!!) & pleasant persons, who could put themselves in a dire situation to understand & deal with a claim if ever we should need to. Kind regards, Lyn
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