What is home insurance?
For most of us, our home is the most valuable purchase we ever make. But a home is more than just a thing we buy, or some building with our things stuffed inside it. Our homes are where we see our loved ones, where we raise our families, where we host our friends, the place we miss when we're away, and a safe space where we can be most ourselves. Darryl Kerrigan knew what he was talking about when he said, "It's not a house, it's a home."
Whatever your home looks like – a house, a terrace, an apartment, or a studio – you'll want to keep it safe. This means more than locking doors at night, or keeping your gutters clear of dead leaves in summer – it can also mean getting home insurance as financial protection if something unfortunate happens.
Home insurance is a financial safe guard to help protect the place you own and live in – your home. It's designed to provide you with some peace of mind that if the unexpected happens to your home and/or your possessions inside it, you'll be protected from major financial turmoil. If something does happen and it's covered under your policy, home insurance can help you recover some or all of your costs, make repairs, or replace lost items.
What does home insurance cover?
There are three main types of home insurance:
- Home and contents insurance
- Building insurance
- Contents insurance
These are differentiated by what part of your home they cover – so if you're after an insurance policy, you'll need to understand what items are counted as part of the 'building' and which count as 'contents' of your home.
The range of inclusions in each category will depend on your insurer and policy, but this should give you an idea of what often counts in each:
- Building insurance: this covers both the house you live in, and the other building on your property – like sheds and garages.
- Contents insurance: this covers a wide range of items – from furniture to jewellery to TVs and laptops. It even covers your carpet and curtains.
- Home and contents insurance: this is our most popular type of home insurance, giving you cover for both your home and the many items inside it.
Depending on your insurer, you can get an insurance policy to cover your building and contents separately, or you can get a policy which covers both. It's important to pay attention to the fine print when comparing home insurance quotes.
Does People First Bank offer home insurance?
Yes! At People First Bank, we've teamed up with CGU to provide our members with two options for home and contents insurance:
- Home Building and Contents
- Home Building and Contents Plus
With these policies, you'll get cover to protect what matters most; plus, you can choose to add on optional valuables cover.
You can find the product disclosure statements and full details of our policies here.
These insurance policies are written in plain English and are designed to give you all the information you need. However, if you have questions or need a hand with getting through them (we know there's a lot in there!), please get in touch with us.
Visit our home and contents insurance product page
What events are covered by home and contents insurance?
There are strict conditions on what types of events are covered by home insurance. Every insurer and policy has its own limits and restrictions, so you’ll want to pay attention to the fine print.
Here are some examples of what home and contents insurance through People First Bank covers:
- Accidental breakage of glass
- Animal damage
- Earthquake
- Escape of water or liquid
- Explosion
- Fire
- Flood or Rainwater Run-off
- Impact
- Lightening
- Storm
- Theft or attempted theft
For more information or to view the comparison table click here.
Each of these types of events covered have their own limitations depending on your policy level, with different conditions for your building and contents. You can find simple explanations of what each means at the links below:
Do I need home insurance?
If you aren’t a homeowner, you won’t need building insurance, but you may want contents insurance. If you are a homeowner, you may want both. Either way, you should assess your personal circumstances before you decide. You can reach out to us to chat about your needs.
How do I calculate how much home insurance I need?
Part of working out your home insurance policy needs is making a reasonable estimate of how much your home is worth. This isn't the same as how much you would sell the property for – it has to do with the cost to replace everything if you lost the building and/or contents inside.
To make things easier for you, we've created two calculators to help you estimate how much insurance you might need. These are no substitute for a professional appraisal, but they can give you a good idea of the approximate cost to rebuild or repurchase everything. If you're just getting started with comparing home insurance policies, we encourage you to give them a go.
Not covered by insurance? Not a problem
We ‘ve teamed up with CGU to provide flexible cover and value for money Car Insurance that's got you covered. Get a quote online today!
