Home and contents insurance review

At a glance

Recommendations

Notes:
Y denotes policies that are recommended. YY denotes policies that are also recommended as combined home and contents insurance. Our recommendations are based on premium prices and policy scores, and are intended as a guide only. Always read the PDS and consider your individual situation. Policies must score over 60 to qualify for a recommendation in the Standard category. For policies to be considered in the Top category, they must score over 70, include flood cover and offer cover for accidental damage. Suncorp, GIO and AMP Platinum policies are excluded from recommendation due to their sum-insured requirements (minimum building sum insured is $500,000), but both policies scored well. 1Cover, BUPA and Myer were not considered for recommendation as we could not obtain pricing information. St George, Bank of SA, Bank of Melbourne and Westpac insure existing bank customers only, so we did not consider them for recommendation. Shannons is a specialist insurer for motoring enthusiasts. Apia is a specialist insurer for over 55s, and most insurers consider age when calculating premium prices or offer additional incentives on top of existing cover.

Getting the right cover

Home and contents insurance policies can often be customised, which you can use to your advantage. First, though, make sure you decide on the core elements of cover that you consider essential. You will need to look at things like flood cover, earthquakes and underinsurance – the list is up to you (don’t worry if you’re a bit unsure, you can narrow it down as you go).

Keeping essential cover in mind, you can then go about tailoring insurance to your needs. For example, if you want the highest cover available for the lowest price, increasing the excess will lower your premium (most insurers give you this option when filling out a quote online). Removing accidental damage (optional on some top level policies) will also see your premiums reduced, as will installing an alarm system.

Our standard cover recommendations are policies that performed well in a large field. Even without choosing additional options, we believe they represent good value for the cover provided. There is no point paying for higher level cover if you don’t need it, plus you could consider putting aside some money in an emergency fund as a substitute to paying for extra protection.

If you would like standard cover with a few extras, some (not all) recommended standard policies have flood cover, at least as an option, along with built-in underinsurance protection. Accidental damage is available as an option on many of these policies too, and there may be other optional benefits you can add to bridge the gap between standard and top (at a price, of course).

Make sure to check your existing insurer’s renewal slip by performing a quote online, and gather multiple quotes when it’s time to renew. Finally, don’t be afraid to negotiate about your premium price. Insurers appreciate your business, so don’t settle for less than the best deal.

Where are the premium prices?

Home and contents insurance is risk rated, which means the premiums are calculated on a number of factors. These factors could include the neighbourhood you live in, your age and building construction (or all of the above).

We look at thousands of premiums across the scenarios to establish trends, but printing the actual prices would only be confusing and to no real benefit. Prices also tend to change without warning. For this reason, it's more worthwhile to use the recommendations as a guide and then get your own personalised quote from an insurer before deciding on home and contents insurance.

Check our Comparison Table for a closer look at each product, or if you would like more help with understanding home and contents insurance, see What To Look Out For.