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Finder’s home insurance methodology 2023

How our experts and insights team calculated the Finder home insurance awards and Finder rating.

What are the Finder home insurance awards?

Finder's home insurance awards is a ratings methodology that compares both price and features across 21 home and contents insurance policies. To determine the ratings, we researched a total of 68 home insurance policies which we narrowed down to 21 based on our eligibility criteria. In total, we got 312 home insurance quotes based on 15 different profiles.

We use the final scores from our insurance awards to inform the top picks on our best home insurance.

While we have gathered quotes for a broad range of different areas, your costs may differ a lot since prices vary significantly depending on the area you live in and the type of home you own. We did not include quotes for regional areas of the country. The ongoing weather events meant that several insurers were unable to provide cover at the time we gathered the quotes.

If you're looking to get cover and live in a regional area, it's worth calling the insurer directly to see if they will cover you.

What is the Finder rating?

The Finder rating is designed to make it easier for you to compare insurance policies side-by-side. It's based on the same information we gather as part of the Finder Awards. Each policy score is represented by a star rating out of 5.

To determine the ratings, our insurance experts and research team analyse policies based on price and features. The Finder ratings score you see on some of our tables and guides are based on a combination of price and features. Features account for 55% of the score, price accounts for 45%.

We also created separate scores for price and features to make it easier for you to weigh up what matters most to you. You can find these scores when you hover over the Finder rating. For example, Youi scored 5/5 for price and 4/5 for cover. It had a 4.5/5 Finder rating.

Finder's home insurance awards criteria

The criteria for Finder's home insurance awards was determined by our insights team and insurance experts. It must:

Home insurance eligibility criteria

  • The home insurance provider must be in the market for at least 12 months
  • Policies must be directly available to customers
  • Cover must be offered to all ages
  • The brand must have an online and accessible product disclosure statement
  • The brand must have an online quoting engine or tool
  • Cover must be available in major states (NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, WA)
  • Combined home and contents insurance policies must be available
  • The brand must offer some form of underinsurance protection, guarantee or safeguard
  • The brand must offer flood cover (including optional)
  • The brand must offer accidental damage (including optional)

Finder's home insurance awards methodology

1. How we calculated our price score for home insurance

To determine our home insurance award winners, we got prices across a total of 10 customer profiles. We got quotes for homes in the following areas of NSW, VIC, QLD, WA and SA:

free
Leichardt
NSW 2040
independent
Richmond
VIC 3121
free
Red Hill
QLD 4059
independent
Subiaco
WA 6008
free
Mile End
SA 5031
expert advice
Eastwood
NSW 2122
help
Chadstone
VIC 3148
expert advice
Chermside
QLD 4032
help
East Fremantle
WA 6158
free
Redwood Park
SA 5097
expert advice
Wollongong
NSW 2500
help
Geelong
VIC 3220
expert advice
Southport
QLD 4215
help
Meadow Springs
WA 6210
free
Kapunda
SA 5373

2. How we calculated our features score for home insurance

Comprehensive Weighting

FeaturesComprehensive Weighting
Choice of excess1%
Cooling off period1%
Document replacement1%
Electrical motor burnout1%
Environmental upgrades1%
Fire5%
Flood5%
Food spoilage2%
Full building replacement9%
Guest's contents1%
Home office contents5%
Impact5%
Jewellery5%
Legal Liability1%
Mortgage discharge costs1%
Online discount1%
Pay monthly at no extra cost5%
Removal of debris and trees3%
Replacement of locks5%
Solar panel2%
Storm surge5%
Temporary accommodation5%
Temporary accommodation due to emergency evacuation5%
Underinsurance Protection10%
Price15%
Total100%

Value weighting

FeaturesValue Weighting
Choice of excess5%
Cooling off period5%
Fire1%
Flood3%
Food spoilage4%
Home office contents4%
Impact4%
Jewellery4%
Legal Liability1%
Mortgage discharge costs2%
Online discount6%
Pay monthly at no extra cost6%
Removal of debris and trees1%
Replacement of locks4%
Solar panel1%
Storm surge1%
Temporary accommodation3%
Temporary accommodation due to emergency evacuation2%
Underinsurance Protection3%
Price40%
Total100%

3. How we calculated our final scores for home insurance

What are the Finder customer satisfaction awards?

The Finder customer satisfaction awards recognise Australia's favourite brands across a huge number of categories. We survey thousands of Australians to understand how they feel about their recent product purchases to help you make a decision about what product to get. It's an independent awards program calculated by our data and insights team. Commercial partnerships do not influence the results in any way.

In total, we gave out awards to 6 different home insurers:

  • Customer satisfaction: NSW
  • Customer satisfaction: VIC
  • Customer satisfaction: QLD
  • Customer satisfaction: SA
  • Customer satisfaction: WA
  • Customer satisfaction: National

1. Home insurance customer satisfaction awards criteria

  • The recency period varied between 3 months and 3 years.
  • We got a minimum of 35 responses for each home insurer for each of the 5 states we looked at (NT, TAS and ACT were not included because the sample size was too small).
  • Respondents were asked whether they would recommend the home insurer to a friend. This result was scored out of 5 as a percentage. For example, if 80% of respondents said they would recommend a product, it received a score of 4 out of 5.
  • Customers were also asked how they would rate each home insurer overall on a scale between 1 and 5 and in terms of:
  1. Features and benefits
  2. Customer service
  3. Value for money

2. Home insurance customer satisfaction awards methodology

The overall score for NSW, QLD, WA, VIC and SA was calculated as an average of the metrics outlined above.

To determine the national winner, we calculated the average score from the top ranking brands from each of the 5 states we looked at.

To determine the insurer of the year winner, we calculated the average score of all top ranking insurance brands included in the customer satisfaction awards.

Our research in numbers

  • Total number of responses for NSW: 1266
  • Total number of responses for VIC: 1308
  • Total number of responses for QLD: 1275
  • Total number of responses for WA: 1222
  • Total number of responses for SA: 1045

What are the Finder Green Awards?

The Finder Green Awards aim to identify sustainability leaders across some of our main comparison categories including banking, insurance, superannuation, utilities and travel. We highlight the winners on our review pages and comparison tables to make it easier for you to compare policies and know that you're purchasing a policy with a more sustainable brand.

Finder's Green Insurer of the Year methodology

We use a dynamic scoring system to decide the winner in each of the industry categories of the Finder Green Awards. Rather than awarding a set number of points for certain values, Finder's dynamic scoring system awards points relative to the other submissions by adjusting scores based on the actual range of submitted values for each category. These sources will then be adjusted to reflect the weightings shown as percentages in the tables below:

Eligibility criteria: Company must have offered insurance products to consumers in Australia in the 12 months prior to 31 December 2021.

General environmental criteria:

Current performance: 40%

  • Emissions intensity
  • Emissions intensity (incl. offsets)
  • Energy from renewable sources
  • Waste avoiding landfill

Environmental targets and reporting: 21%

  • Emissions target
  • Renewable energy target
  • Waste target
  • Public climate change plan
  • External benchmarks/accreditation
Sector-specific environmental criteria:

Climate risk and sustainable investment: 17%

  • Climate change impacts factored into risk management
  • Climate change factored into investment decisions

Climate-friendly products: 22%

  • Incentives/discounts for sustainable purchases or behaviour
  • Carbon neutral products

What are the Finder Innovation Awards?

The Finder Innovation Awards acknowledge excellence and creativity while recognising the impact of innovation across a range of industries. There are 21 innovation award categories including best insurance innovation and best insurtech.

Both categories were judged by a panel of internal and external experts including founder of Determined Consumer Chris Zinn and Managing editor of Insurance News John Deex. Each judge scored the brand out of 100. The finalists were chosen based on who had the highest average score.

Why you can trust Finder's home insurance experts

free

We're free

You pay the same as buying directly from the home insurer. Better still, we regularly run exclusive deals that you won't find on any other site – plus, our tables make it easy to compare policies.
expert advice

We're experts

We've researched and rated dozens of policies as part of our Finder Awards. We provide unique insights and our in-house experts regularly appear on Sunrise, 7News and SBS News.
independent

We're independent

Unlike other comparison sites, we're not owned by an insurer. That means our opinions are our own and we work with lots of home insurance brands, making it easier for you to find a good deal.
help

We're here to help

Since 2014, we've helped 150,000+ people find home insurance by explaining your cover options simply and clearly. We'll never ask for your number or email. We're here to help you make a decision.

Frequently asked questions

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