What affects my home insurance renewal price?

If you’ve noticed your home insurance premiums jumping up a bit from year to year, you’re not alone. But getting to know how your home insurance policy works – including what’s covered and what affects your premium – can help you ensure you’ve got the coverage that’s right for you, and you’re paying the right price for it.

Review and renew your policy

Why have home insurance premiums gone up?

A range of factors are driving price increases. Some of these are listed below.

Repair and rebuilding costs

Repair and rebuilding expenses make up a big chunk of insurance companies’ operating costs. This work is getting more expensive, as materials are increasingly tough to come by and tradies have more work than they can handle. This has resulted in increasing costs, and delays in repairs and rebuilding also increase the cost of claims we pay.

Extreme weather

Weather events – like fires, floods, hail, storms^ and more – are getting more severe. And as the severity of these events increases, so do the costs involved in supporting people after them.

To ensure that insurance companies can continue to support Aussie homeowners after severe weather events, insurance premiums have been going up.

Market forces

External forces can influence home insurance premiums. This includes stuff like:

• inflation
• government fees and charges, and
• reinsurance costs.

These factors vary from year to year, and are unrelated to your risk profile.

How to renew your Home Insurance like a pro

You can potentially save on your home insurance premium by updating a few details on your policy.

Remember that everyone’s circumstances are different, and this is just general info. Always keep your own budget and circumstances in mind when reviewing or making changes to your policy.

Know what you’re covered for

Before making any changes to your policy, ask yourself – do you still have some outstanding questions about it? Are your curtains covered under “building” or “contents”? What about carpets? And what happens if you smash your phone screen (again!)?

If you want to brush up on the details of what’s covered with Suncorp Insurance, check out the Visual Guide to Suncorp’s Home and Contents Insurance.

Start exploring

Review your amount of cover

For Suncorp Insurance building cover, 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.

You can also adjust the sum insured for your contents. Refer to the PDS for details on what we cover as part of the building and contents.

If you’re not sure how much to set as your sum insured, we have a couple of handy calculators that might help.

Check out our coverage calculators

Consider your excess

With Suncorp Home Insurance, you can elect to pay a higher excess in the event of a claim by increasing your excess.Your premiums will be lower as a result.

Review optional covers

You may have added an optional cover – such as Suncorp Insurance Home Assist, or Excess-Free Glass – to your Home Insurance policy. Consider whether the optional covers you’ve selected still suit your circumstances and budget.

Review specified contents

You may have listed some specified contents items on your policy to be covered for a particular amount, which can influence your premium. Think about whether you still need them listed on your policy.

Update and renew your policy

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 incorrect info.

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 Suncorp Insurance, 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. This estimate can help to inform your sum insured.

Given the rising costs mentioned above, your insurer may offer a higher sum insured than you had last year. This can affect your premium. Check your renewal documents for any increases to your sum insured.

With Suncorp Home Insurance, you can add Safety Net Home Protection optional cover to your policy if you have Classic cover. It is automatically included with Classic Extras and Classic Advantages levels of cover.

Safety Net offers an extra payout for covered claims if the cost of repairing or replacing your home exceeds your home sum insured. The amount depends on your level of cover:

• Classic Home Insurance policies have up to a further 25% of your home sum insured safety net (available as an optional cover).
• Classic Extras policies have up to a further 25% of your home sum insured safety net included.
• Classic Advantages policies have up to a further 30% of your home sum insured safety net included.

So say, for example, your home is destroyed by fire and your sum insured is $300,000, but you realise it’ll cost at least $350,000 to rebuild. You either have to fork out the extra money yourself, or settle for a rebuilt house that’s not as good as it was — but a 25% safety net would mean that you can access up to $375,000. Conditions apply, so check the PDS for details.

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:

• The most common Suncorp Home & Contents Insurance Claims in Australia
• Suncorp Home Insurance claims: Assessment, settlement and repair guide
• How to create a home inventory for insurance

^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.

Insurance is issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as Suncorp Insurance. Limits, conditions and exclusions apply. 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.