More details: (15% Combined + 15% Online) on your first year’s premium for a new policy purchased online. *this wouldn't fit in the title sorry.
Ensure you set a reminder to shop around once your 12 months are up so you don't get a surprise jump in price.
Also, once you have your quote if you wait 2 days you will get the same offer + a $60 gift card.
This offer came in about $700 less for me than any other quote which was remarkable for me. Your value may vary.
Do you think Budget Direct are worse than other companies or is it an industry standard to try and minimise payouts to maximise profit? In my experience when needing to make any claim, all companies have been incredibly poor and done everything they can to minimise what they pay. As a customer, you just need to keep pushing and take it to the ombudsman (or threaten to) if needed to get them to cooperate.
Going to the ombusman was what my daughter had to threaten to do recently. They paid up after that. The policy was clear and they didnt have a leg to stand on. It wasn't budget and won't mention the company
I had budget direct many years ago for car insurance and the claiming process went great. Didn't go back cause next year the premium was too high after the accident haha
My only claim with them was approved without issue - a large branch fell on my car while parked at a train station and busted up the wing mirror, door and quarter panel.
I left them they raised my premiums the following year significantly. I spoke to them and they reduced it but not enough for my liking. Was able to get cheaper elsewhere.
AAMI did the same for me, no hassles with the claim but the excessive increase in premium the next year was enough to make me walk
AAMI just put mine up 37.5% without any claims. Price gouging?
@Willyeckerslike: i got 30% with BD this year in car insurance. they are all at the trough right now
@perfectlydark: "But but but our cost for providing the exact same thing has gone up 40% this year because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine gas prices the Gaza conflict the latest thing, and definitely not our price gouging. And all you workers wanting a 5% pay rise, especially when inflation is 7%! That's the biggest inflationary driver right there! We gotta account for that, so that's why we're charging you 30% more."
Budget Direct are the worst, they will low ball you and use any excuss to get out of paying. Avoid at all cost, not worth the little savings you might get……………
Yeah they are thugs . Took the money out of my card for renewal despite the fact I told them a day before not to take it out.
this ^, the aholes put everyone on automatic renewal, so if signing up make sure to check if you can untick that as you have to call to remove it
Thankfully I got a new debit card so my old one was still linked and they couldn't auto renew it!
Ended up swapping to Coles home insurance, was about $100 cheaper.
Auto & General
Through our direct insurance brand Budget Direct and distribution partners, we're making a positive impact on the lives of millions of Australians.
Our partners include iconic Australian brands such as ING Bank, Qantas and Virgin Money. Products offered through our partners include: Car, Home, Contents, Motorcycle, Travel Insurance and Roadside Assistance.
I did several quotes for building only and found AAMI to be the cheapest somehow.
Shop around for sure. I don't think any insurance company is good to deal with though.
Used them once would never again during the wet season of NSW a few years back, had a storm large native tree branch fell on IP, damaging corner of the property gutter roof two trusses, asked them to come out for assessment and start the process. Never came out after repeated calls they said they were booked earliest as blah blah blah.. I gave up fixed the problem myself over 1-2 weeks of taking time off work.
No option at the time to cancel direct debit, have to ring up speak to an overseas contact centre. It took two attempts to cancel the direct debit. That is how crap they are.
Now with Youi, NRMA and Shannons. I will be moving to Shannons as they can do a package deal on properties (owner or IP), cars and other things
50% of their call centre is Aus, 50% is South Africa.
somehow it's 10% more still than the renewal RACV that sent me which is 15% more than last year…
I switched from Budget Direct to AAMI for my car insurance recently and halved the cost of the premium.
Yeah, went Aami yesterday and it was cheap af.
I use virgin money. They seem to be all right. I find their price for home and contents insurance is the best after doing extensive research.
Curious if you checked inclusions during your research?
Yeah, I did.
And they are exactly the same product as this. Both Budget and Virgin are re-sellers for Auto & General.
True, but it doesn’t prevent one in particular from being a bunch of assholes
That is good to know!
Just priced it $780 per year more expensive then my current insurer.
The only way to "win" with insurance costs is to look around every year, every company offers first year discounts and its cheaper to swap annually, just watch as your conditions errode as you change companies. Every single one of them will try to weasle their way out of paying any more than they need to. But honestly unless your a millionare with your own lawyer on retainer you need insurance. Car especially only need to see the threads that pop up for uninsured car owners being hit by other uninsured drivers…
Will budget direct insure if you have made a claim in the last 3 years??
Dodgy insurer, with respect to claims. Will go to great lengths to weasel out of them. Wouldnt touch their product, even if they paid me! Financial ombudsman, will 9 times out of 10, side with these companies, as they are funded by them and that too, after a significant waiting period for the case to be looked at. Waste of time..company.
I had the worst experience with them after a serious car accident which I was at fault. They tried every way possible not to pay. From the very first phone call after the accident I could tell the way it was heading. They calling multiple times over a couple of weeks almost in a harassing way trying to put words in my mouth, asking me for definitions of single words, I would answer with "I'm not sure", so they would try to suggest a definition then ask if I agree. Tried to tell me the car was modified and that I didn't declare it, all items were factory options fitted when new (towbar, hard lid, alloy wheels). Wanted the contact details of any previous owners of the vehicle. They whole thing was ridiculous. Ended up getting paid as the insurance assessor submitted the statutory write off paper work to the government before the insurance company had agreed. I got lucky. Avoid them!!!
Pond scum. Thanks for the reminder.
BD are pretty sneaky. They'll give you a great quote for the first year, but it will balloon for the second. Mine almost doubled so I went elsewhere. This year my premium increased by $800, but that was minimal compared to other quotes I got. Anyone experience the same big increase?
30% increase for me but i still couldnt find better elsewhere without maxing out excess which i wasnt comfortable with
Mine is set to renew very soon so I'll give this a try.
‘Budget’ insurers are exactly that and you’ll get what you pay for come claim time. No bargain if it means stuff all in the event of a claim.
The PDS will be full of otherwise-undisclosed terms that will allow them not to settle the claim.
Omg nearly x3 times my current insurance (Paid $1800 and they want $4800) Blimey
After 10 years with them and no claims, they now refuse to insure us…
Definitely shop around. Virgin Money Insurance is the same product as this one (a front for Auto and General), and came in a lot cheaper for me. And to my surprise: the renewal was fair, first time in ages I stayed put.
I signed up with them this year (H&C), it was half the cost that CommIns wanted. Hopefully no issues..
DodgyDirect
expect 30% yearly increments .. these guys and huddle are the worst
$600 cheaper than other quotes for me . will wait for 2 days and see if i get the $60 gift voucher
Did you ever get offered $60. I got a quote a week ago and have heard nothing.
From my quote experience, give AAMI, Suncorp, Allianz a try & if you are over 50 years old try Apia insurance.
Doesn't cost you a thing trying out the online quote. Quote done & dusted in less than 13 mins in my experience.
My top 5 recommendations for the just the price (I have no experience with claims, had none for at least 12 years).
AAMI, Suncorp, Apia, Australian seniors, Allianz
*Not in any particular order
I just want everybody looking for home & contents insurance to get the most economical one considering the rising cost of living & some people need to save here & there to survive. That includes me as well.
I can't go through the entire PDS booklet. Gives me a headache looking into all the nitty gritty clauses lol
I work in insurance and I just want to highlight here about reasons prices can be different across different brands
Some companies quote you a cheaper price depending on your location, type of your home, and many other attributes of your home.
But more importantly, prices are different because the underlying product and benefits are different. When comparing prices, you need to compare like-for-like. You are advised to explore and compare the details beyond just prices, and decide what's right for you :
Hypothetical example: you have a 10 year old LG 65" TV you bought 10 years ago, it costs you $10,000. When it comes to claim time, some insurers will repay you $10,000 minus off the 10 years of depreciation. Some insurers will help you replace New-for-Old
All of these differences in products and benefit result in different prices. For many of you, these will not be important for you now, but will be when you need to make a claim.
You’ve highlighted a key frustration and challenge for the regular consumer here. We shouldn’t have to be experts in a 50 page document or there be clauses included in that document to screw over the end consumer.
I can’t fathom how much energy and time it would take for someone to make a genuine comparison listing out all of the different ”features” each insurance has and actually be able to decipher the difference between all of the companies.
The moral to the story is, they’re all at to screw you and maximise their own profit.
I have to say insurance companies have done a lot more today than in the past, in making these key information available, they cannot hide any of the details
I believe most (if not all) insurers are not here to screw you, but they are also not here to spoon feed you either.
It's like a comparison of between BMW X3 and MG ZS. MG's low price is one of their selling point (like Budget Direct), but they won't be spoon feeding you about the attributes that a BMW has which MG doesn't. Not the best example but hopefully you get what I mean
Insurance can be complicated. If you have question I may be able to help give some insights.
P/S: I don't sell insurance or get any commission
Hoping you can clear something up for me. I've come across people opting for Agreed Value on car insurance vs Market Value. Let's say I've selected Agreed Value of $50,000.00 for my 6 year old car which I bought for $50,000.00 totally new. If it's written off in an accident or stolen and never recovered, will my insurance pay me $50,000.00?
@elecpurch: Vehicles depreciate over time and I believe you won't be able to pick an agreed value of $50,000 if that's what it was worth 6 years ago.
But yes your interpretation is correct - you do need to take off excess though
Eg. If your excess is $1,000 then they will only pay you $49,000.
@b0b0: Thanks. I've been thinking Agreed Value does not make sense as the premium is higher. You're correct, it's not allowing me to select anything close to what I paid for my car but it's allowing me to select more than what they're offering for market value.
I’ve been with budget for H&C for a couple of years. Thankfully I have not had to make a claim. I just got my renewal letter, and it’s up majorly over last year.
I’ve just done a quote as a ‘new customer’ and it was $200 more expensive then my renewal offer..
I’ve done a few quotes today and GIO have come out on top by a few hundred dollars.
I would expect they would be easier to deal with over Budget also.
In my case, this is far from a deal…
* Budget Direct quoted me near $4,000
* CommBank via Howards quoted me near $3,000
* and Honey Insurance is currently $2,500
Suggest try getting multiples quotes from various insurers and go for the best (based on coverage/PDS and price), these 15 to30% figures are a hoax.
Could be 100% off and I still wouldn't trust Budget to not find a way to weasel out of paying a claim.