Travel Insurance Reviews

I had an accident and it wasn’t my fault, my husband tried many times to get to better conclusion with them they are terrible. The guy(who hit me) was nice and spoke to his insurance which was Toyota we were treated fairly by his insurance than budget direct, don’t bother getting budget direct and if you have better cancel and get something else before you even need it, half star for their rude representative.

Made a claim after an acciden, they repaired the damage but introduced an engine malfunction. Refused to acknowledge and fix it

I have a car and a van under budget direct insurance for more than 2 years. I am so disappointed with my recent claim. A car hit my van from behind. It wasn't my fault. I don't feel these people assess my case properly. They are only interested in the excess payment. They increased my insurance amount for both vehicles by almost $100-$150 per month and reduced my ratings. On top of this, I have to pay few thousand for the excess. Don't fall for them. I decided to change my insurance provider. I am extremely sad and helpless. I wish to give them 0 ratings.

Easily the best value car insurance when shopping around. However, I definitely have a bad case of bargain regret. My wife crashed it a couple of times late last year which coincided with loss of parking sensors and major loss of power issues and eventually unable to even start now. Despite paying $1700 on servicing costs, several mechanics all blamed it on damage to the electricals done in the damage to the front. Hence, I made two insurance claims on 2 January 2022. Firstly, Budget Direct would not accept the claims unless I paid $1340.33 to renew the car insurance for 2022. After many complaints, they eventually agreed to refund the entire amount. However, only $876.95 was refunded on 10 May despite the car being off the road and in the workshop for most of January and towed back to the workshop on Monday 31 January after breaking down and unable to start since. It has been to towed all over Melbourne to many different assessors since. I have been on the phone for many hours on many days to lots of different people from different departments since. I have done everything they have asked only to get a phone call today by a James to notify me that the claim has not been approved and where can they tow the car to return it to me. The reason given was a complete fabrication without any facts. Disgusting.

Very very poor assistance and costumer service. Unhelpful staff at all times.
Never recommend roadside assistance from this insurance at all.

It is my first year with Buget Direct (BD) when I was so nageived believing on TV advertisement to say how wonderful this insurance company is.

I am so disappointed of my recent experience with BD's customer service team because I was involved in car accident which was not even my fault as other driver reversed and hit my car on the driver side rear panel. When I contacted the BD to report my incident, I didn't feel they have given me the support I should be receiving. I spoke with few customer service officers (CSO), all they were interested in the excess payment not my accident. They said they will only review my case after I paid the excess, eventhough the accident was not my fault and I have a dash-cam footage and a witness. Didn't show any interest in the evidences at all.

BD is not as they said on their website that "You do not have to pay an excess if you have a no fault accident."

My claim has not been resolved since December 2021 as I am disputing the liability and insurance excess.

I noticed that BD has punished me by increasing my policy premium and dropped car rating from 1 down 3, when my case is still my review stage.

Submitted a building claim after the recent storms in Melbourne..for 1 weeks these con SCAMMERS did not organise the MAKE SAFE PROCESS...and handed over to a building conmen who all act for the insurance company and they all lie. Each call to JP FLING a scamming insurance builder also conned the process and over a week never showed up. JP FLING builders staff ALISHA a big conwoman kept telling us lie after lie. Quick to sell insurance policies by fraud and deception misleading behavior by these insurance thugs..DO NOT USE THEM to even cover your pet, leave alone your home, car, investment properties...as they will fraud you when you need support. The claim will in the end be rejected. Then you have to go to the other assholes AFCA. Do not pay a cent to buy any insurance products from these frauds!!

Hi, i have got caught to this mob after seen their tv ads. A 55 year woman sent a letter from BUDGET DIRECT saying $1000 will be charged to the excess if i drive more than $5000 KM. the policy was NOT CHEAP NOR WAS IT DISCOUNTED. after joining i was sent this letter in the mail . So in othrr words paying a $600 excess and a futher $1000 , what a joke??? I have my home content policy , roadside assistance and 1 investment home. MY VISA CARD WAS RETAINED WITHIN THE BUDGET DIRECT SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATIC RENEWALS WITH NO PERMISSION AT ALL.
quick to take your money and nil service and if a CLAIM is made they may give you hell on earth... IS BUDGET DIRECT WORTH THE MONEY YOU PAY. NIL CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND SUPPORT.

SHOP AROUND PLEASE...

I purchased a comprehensive travel policy long before COVID was a known event. Unhappily, our once in a life-time extended holiday to Iceland & Norway was cancelled. The airlines and most of our hotel bookings were happily refunded but I had used hotels.com and bookings.com for over $3,600 worth of bookings (it was to be a long vacation!). Both of these companies refused to refund the money and offered vouchers instead. I did not seek the vouchers, nor did I want them. The original vouchers were due to expire in May 2021 but were then automatically extended - not at my request. I decided that enough is enough as we are not prepared to undertake this trip any longer, as the virus is continually evolving and it is not worth risking our health or being stuck overseas due to unforeseen border closures.

Budget Direct has refused to honour my claim because "You have been offered credits for the bookings you are claiming and accepting these is considered as recovering the costs from the source and a step which you could take to reduce your loss. Therefore, the costs you have claimed are outside the scope of the policy."

Last year I called Budget Direct and was told that IF I DECLINED the vouchers I was not making sufficient efforts to recover the costs.

Today I was informed after a Stage 2 appeal that because I DID NOT DECLINE the vouchers I was deemed not to have made sufficient effort to recover costs.

This is despite sending copies of repeated requests to the companies for refunds instead of vouchers.

So with Budget Direct you are damned whichever way you go!!

If you read this and other reviews of Budget Direct, please note the cut and paste responses from their representatives. When they say that all disputes are resolved with reference to the terms and conditions, go back to what I say above about the contradictory advice from them on two different occasions. They seem to have terms and conditions that accept two different realities.

In short they didn't pay out my lost luggage (which was lost for 3 days by the airline I travelled with).

It said on the policy they cover it up to $600. In that time I had to buy clothes, toiletries etc..

They said they wanted airline reports and receipts of items. I sent them documents signed by the airlines and sent receipts on my bank statement of purchased items as requested.

Over 1 year later THEY STILL HAVE NOT REIMBURSED ME.

An absolute joke of a company. They make the process that hard so people give up on trying to get their money.

I hope their company is struggling extremely badly during covid because after seeing all these other reviews like mine, they don't deserve to exist.

If someone from budget sees this, there's my claim reference number below, sort it out!
ref: LU024368-01

The business model of budget is to provide cheaper cover and then deter people from making a claim. With budget you don’t even get what you pay for. They make the claims process as slow and painful as possible. It doesn’t matter if you are at fault or not, they will make the claims process so difficult that it’s not even worth having a comprehensive insurance. Do not fall for the fake reviews on their website as they are all paid reviews bought from bazaar voice. Try posting a review on their website. If you just want to have insurance and will not ever make a claim or are willing to get your life sucked out of you than budget direct is the company for you. No matter how many times you call, make an internal complaint or even make a complaint to AFCA it won’t make any difference to them. It is better to pay more with any other company and if you can’t afford to pay more better opt for third party insurance from any other company than a comprehensive policy from budget.The claim process takes months not days. They are the worst insurance company I ever had to deal with.

When my car was written off by a drunk driver Budget Direct literally tittered with happiness when they told me I wasn't covered under my 'uninsured' clause because the drunk had insurance even though her company disowned her and left me high and dry. The Budget Direct claims manager then tried to tell me that being hit by a drunk who ran a give way sign versus me hitting a kangaroo at night on a country road was essentially the same claim. Awesome, thanks guys.
Moved to RACV.