Insuring your home
Why has my Home Insurance renewal price gone up?
Home insurance premiums often increase from one year to the next. Some of the factors that drive these increases are beyond the control of individual policy holders – but some can be adjusted, allowing you to ensure that your policy – including the premium you pay – is right for you and your circumstances.
You may also be able to take advantage of other ways to save with GIO, like the multi-policy discount*.
Why have Home Insurance costs gone up?
A range of factors have driven premium increases. Some of these are listed below.
Severe weather
Weather events like fires, floods, hail, storms^ and more are getting more severe. As a result, the costs involved in supporting people after these events have increased. To help cover these costs, and ensure that insurance companies can continue to support Australians after severe weather events, insurance premiums have risen.
Repair and rebuilding costs
Repair and rebuilding expenses make up a large portion of insurance companies’ costs. This work is getting more expensive, as materials are increasingly scarce and tradies are constantly busy with more work. This has resulted in increasing costs, and delays in repairs and rebuilding also increases the cost of claims we pay.
As a result, insurance premiums have risen too.
Market forces
External forces can influence home insurance premiums. These can include, for instance:
- inflation
- government fees and charges, and
- reinsurance costs.
Such factors vary from year to year, and are unrelated to your risk profile.
How to renew your Home Insurance like a pro
Updating a few details on your home insurance policy may help you save a little on your premium.
Remember that everyone’s circumstances are different, and this is just general information. Always consider your own budget and circumstances when reviewing or making changes to your policy.
Amount of cover
For building cover with GIO, you can adjust your sum insured within a set range, and your premium will be adjusted accordingly. Your sum insured is the most we’ll pay to repair or rebuild your home if an insured event occurs. It should reflect how much it costs to rebuild your house using new materials at today’s prices, or the amount you’re comfortable with if your home is significantly damaged or destroyed.
If you’re not sure what to set as your sum insured, our Home Building Calculator might be able to help.
You can also adjust the sum insured for your contents. For help estimating a contents sum insured, check out our Contents Insurance Calculator.
Refer to the PDS for details on what we cover as part of the building and contents.
Consider your excess
With GIO Home Insurance, you can elect to pay a higher excess in the event of a claim by increasing your excess. Your premium will be lower as a result.
Optional covers
You may have added an optional cover – such as GIO Home Assist, or Excess-Free Glass – to your Home Insurance policy. Consider whether the mix of optional covers you’ve selected still suits your circumstances and budget.
Removing an optional cover can reduce your premiums – but it can also impact your coverage. For example, if you remove the Excess-Free Glass option you might find yourself having to pay an excess when making a claim for accidentally broken fixed glass that is part of the home. So, consider whether this is the right decision for you.
Review specified contents items
You may have listed some specified contents items on your policy for a particular covered amount, which can influence your premium. Double check whether you still need them listed – if not, you can remove that item and reduce your total sum insured by the relevant amount, which can reduce your premium a little.
Explore ways to save
Once you’ve gotten your policy details right, you may be able to save on your premium with a multi-policy discount.
This rewards policy holders with 10%* off their premiums if they hold three or more eligible policies with GIO. Eligible policies include:
- Home Building Insurance
- Home Contents Insurance
- Landlord Insurance
- Car Insurance
- Motorcycle Insurance
- Caravan Insurance, or
- Boat Insurance.
A GIO NSW CTP Insurance policy or GIO ACT MAI Insurance policy will count as an eligible policy, but the premium for these policies cannot be discounted.
Why is my renewal more expensive than a new quote?
Your details might not match
If your circumstances have changed since you first took out your policy, or since you last renewed it, your renewal premium may be based on outdated information.
This can happen if, for example, you have:
- set a different building sum insured
- set a different contents sum insured
- chosen different options such as Safety Net Home Protection, or
- set a different excess.
Also, when you first took out a new policy, you may have enjoyed a discount which no longer applies. Double check your details including your address, age of policyholders and claims history.
If you’ve gotten a new quote based on your updated info, there may be a disparity between your renewal premium and that new quote.
To ensure your details are correct and your renewal premium is right for your circumstances, you can easily review and update your policy online.
Changes to sum insured
Your home insurance policy may specify a home sum insured. That’s the most you’ll be paid for repairs or rebuilding in the event of a successful claim. With GIO, you can select your home sum insured – from within a set range – though an estimate to rebuild your home will be provided when you take out or renew your policy, which can help inform your sum insured.
Given inflation and rising building costs, your insurer may offer a higher sum insured than you had last year, to make sure you’re sufficiently covered. This can affect your premium. Check your renewal documents for any increases to your sum insured.
With GIO you can add Safety net home protection optional cover to a Classic Home policy, this provides up to a further 25% of your home building sum insured. Safety net is automatically included with Classic Extras (up to a further 25%) and GIO Platinum (up to a further 30%) levels of cover.
With Safety net home protection, if your claim is covered and if the cost of repairing or replacing your home exceeds your home sum insured, we will pay up to the further percentage of the home sum insured to:
- repair or replace the home; or
- pay you the amount quoted by a member of our builder supplier network to repair or replace the home.
This can help you avoid underinsurance, and ensure that you’re not left without enough to rebuild your home thanks to something like a sudden spike in building costs.
If you’d like to see how selecting this option will affect your premium, it’s easy to add or remove it before paying online, and instantly see the price difference.
Read more:
Insurance issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as GIO. Read the Product Disclosure Statement before buying this insurance. The Target Market Determination is also available. This advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it..
*Discount not applicable to GIO Home Assist, Excess-free Glass or Domestic Workers Compensation optional covers. Terms and conditions apply. Taxes and charges are not discounted.
^We do not insure you for bushfire, storm, storm surge, flood or tsunami in the first 72 hours of your policy. Very limited exceptions apply. Refer to the PDS for details.
