Home and contents insurance covers loss or damage as a result of a bushfire. This can include repairing or rebuilding your property and replacing your belongings. Most policies also cover:
If your home is destroyed by a bushfire or is unsafe to stay in, policies will pay for temporary accommodation for you – often for up to 12 months. The costs are often covered in addition to your rebuild costs (sum insured). Youi and QBE can also pay for temporary accommodation if you are told to evacuate by the authorities.
If your home is destroyed, it can cost thousands of dollars to demolish what’s left and get rid of debris. Most policies will cover you for between 10% and 20% of your rebuild costs (sum insured) – this is in addition to your sum insured. For example, if your home is insured for $1 million, insurers will pay up to $100,000 for demolition. Only some, such as Australian Seniors, offer a flat fee of $15,000.
Insurers can cover redesign work that needs to be completed to repair or rebuild your
home after a bushfire – for example, survey work, design work and legal work. Once again, you will usually be covered for around 10% of your home’s rebuild costs (sum insured).
This pays for the removal of your bushfire-damaged belongings and to temporarily store your undamaged contents. The costs typically will be covered in addition to your home’s rebuild costs.
Both Youi and QBE are the only insurers we looked at to cover bushfires, soot and smoke damage from a bushfire and temporary accommodation if you’re told by authorities you need to evacuate.
We selected Youi as our top overall pick for fire damage because it can also cover damage from an accidental fire 100m from your home.
| Benefits | Youi | Budget Direct | Honey | QBE | Everyday | Bendigo Bank | Australian Seniors | Qantas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bushfire | ||||||||
| Soot/smoke from bushfire | ||||||||
| Temporary accommodation: evacuation |
When you take out home insurance, you’ll typically be asked how much you want to insure your home for (sometimes called the sum insured) which involves calculating how much it would cost to rebuild your home.
This is important because if a bushfire totally destroyed your home, you want to make sure your insurance will fully cover you. It’s not an easy task but there are a couple of ways you can do it:
Online building and contents insurance calculators can help you calculate your rebuild costs. They can also factor in the current cost of building materials. To make sure your rebuild costs are accurate, review your policy every year and adjust your cover amount accordingly. You’ll also want to adjust your contents cover if you’ve purchased new items.
Some insurers such as Budget Direct, Qantas and Honey offer safeguards in case you don't insure your home for the amount it costs to rebuild it. ANZ, on the other hand, offers total replacement cover. This will pay for the entire rebuild costs.
If you have evacuated, don’t return home until you’re advised it is safe to do so. The Insurance Council of Australia recommends you do the following in the event of a claim:
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