Guide to home insurance

Not to be confused with a PDF, a PDS (product disclosure statement) contains all the vital information you will need to make a decision about a finance product.

While every variant of home and contents insurance provides security for homeowners, there are extra elements to consider when you’re not occupying those four walls yourself. 

When you first move into a rental property, one of the first questions you may ask yourself as a tenant is ‘do I need renters insurance?’ 

There's no doubt about it, home and contents insurance policy writers love their mumbo jumbo. If you're struggling to get your head around some of the home insurance lingo (and really who wouldn't) our jargon buster is here to help.

Whether you’ve built it from scratch or picked it up at an auction, our home is the most expensive thing we own. So the last thing you want is to find out you’ve forgotten to add or misjudged something on your home and contents insurance policy, like underinsurance.  

If you’re like most people, your home is probably not only one of the most expensive things you’ll ever own, but also one of the most important to you. You most likely put a lot of thought into finding the right one and a lot of effort into saving up and choosing a home loan to afford it.

It can be a bit of a drag when your insurance renewal rolls around for another year and yet again you haven’t needed to make a claim. But that’s the thing about having insurance: you hope for the best but are prepared for the worst. Future you will be grateful you played it safe.Mozo’s aim in the insurance game is to help ease the financial strain of maintaining your cover by helping you find a top value-for-money policy. We also try to help simplify the process of taking out a policy which suits your needs.In pursuit of these goals, Mozo analyses what’s on offer in the insurance world each year in the Mozo Experts Choice Awards. In 2020, the expert judges were on the hunt for the best value and highest quality home and contents insurance.In both regards, Westpac’s Home & Contents Insurance was a stand-out performer. Its Premier Care tier – Westpac’s highest grade of home and contents insurance – was awarded in the Exceptional Value and Exceptional Quality award categories, with the standard Essential Care option also taking home a value award.When considering value, Mozo’s expert judges assessed the policies in terms of the level of cover offered at a more affordable price compared to others in the market. When they assessed quality, the judges were on the lookout for even more generous or extensive policy features.Read on to learn more about Westpac’s winning cover.

For most Aussies insurance is an essential part of life. But finding the best policies to protect your home, car and other belongings doesn’t have to be a drag or cost the earth. Want to know how this idyllically insured lifestyle can be achieved? Start with the Mozo Experts Choice Awards. In 2020, the Mozo judges searched through the fine print and collected thousands of quotes to uncover the best home and contents insurance policies. Of all the purchases you might make in your lifetime, buying a home is a massive investment, emotionally and financially. So you want to make sure you’re covered with the right policy. ING’s policy took out a Mozo award in the best value category, meaning it provides reassuring cover while being one of the more affordable insurance options on the market.If you’d like to learn more about this top value-for-money policy and ING’s car insurance, read the details below.

Your home is probably the largest and most meaningful purchase you’ll make in your lifetime, so it’s only natural to be picky when it comes to your home insurance provider. But navigating all the policies out there can be tricky.To make things a little bit easier, our team of experts scour the market each year in search of policies that offer great value and market-leading features. This year, our panel of experts pored over 62 policies, assessing them on the basis of price, level of cover and more.“We compare a huge range of policies and details to help customers narrow down their search. Whether you’re looking for a policy that offers value or one that boasts generous coverage, there’s sure to be one that suits you in our list of winners,” said Mozo expert judge, Peter Marshall.The Mozo Experts Choice Insurance Awards are split into two categories - Exceptional Value and Exceptional Quality - and the winners in each are listed below. We’ve also included an overview of two standout home insurance options from this year’s awards.

A home is the biggest purchase most Australians will ever make and making sure it’s insured against worst case scenarios is something everyone should take seriously. But doing so doesn’t have to break your budget.To help determine which providers offer the best cover for the best price, the team at Mozo analysed 56 home and contents insurance policies using more than 15,000 customer quotes as part of this year’s Mozo Experts Choice Home Insurance Awards.Those that stood out were recognised in our Exceptional Value category. We’ve included a rundown of just a few below, but be sure to check out the full list of winners at our Home Insurance Awards page, or read our methodology report for an in-depth look at how they were chosen.