Consumer group CHOICE has analysed more than 60 home insurance policies from Coles, Woolworths and Aldi, to determine whether they're worth your money.
"With Aldi announcing its insurance products earlier this year, we decided it was time to analyse home insurance policies across the three major supermarkets, to see if they actually offer decent protection," says CHOICE insurance expert, Jodi Bird.
"Our analysis found that all policies on offer from the supermarkets are fairly standard, providing similar coverage to products from more conventional insurers. The thing that sets them apart, at least for Coles and Woolworths, is that they can be linked to the supermarkets' loyalty programs," says Bird.
"Signing up for a home insurance policy with Coles or Woolies, and linking it with either Everyday Rewards or Flybuys, can give you bonus points and discounts on your groceries. Of course, the problem with this is that you're handing even more information over to the supermarkets. It's worth remembering that there are many other policies out there that will provide you with the same or better cover, without needing to hand over your personal data to the supermarket," says Bird.
Out of four policies offered by supermarkets, the Coles Home Insurance policy received the highest rating in CHOICE's testing, with a cover score of 60%. Unfortunately, a lack of pricing data for both Coles and Aldi insurance products makes it difficult to determine how well they perform in terms of value for money.
Here's how insurance policies at Coles, Woolworths, and Aldi stacked up:
Coles Home Insurance
- Choice Cover score:60%
- Sum insured policy with optional 25% building safety net, provided by Auto & General
"The Coles policy has good coverage for emergency storage of undamaged contents, if you can't live in your home due to damage from an insured event. However, it doesn't include any coverage for gardens or landscaping, which is an unusual exclusion," says Bird.
Woolworths Everyday Home Insurance
- Everyday Standard Home Insurance
- Choice Cover score: 45%
- Sum insured policy, provided by Hollard.
Everyday Comprehensive Home Insurance
- Choice Cover score: 56%
- Sum insured policy, provided by Hollard.
"Woolies offers two tiers of its home insurance product at different price points. Unfortunately, neither of them provide great value for money. We found many policies in our review that outperformed both of the Woolworths policies in terms of cost and coverage," says Bird.
Aldi Household Insurance
- Choice Cover score: 57%
- Sum insured policy underwritten by RACQ
"Aldi's policy has no cover for vet bills - in fact, vet bills are not covered by any of the supermarket home insurance policies, despite being covered by many other policies in our comparison. This policy does offer storm surge cover, a rare inclusion which could be useful for coastal properties," says Bird.
"If you're considering purchasing or switching to a new home insurance policy, CHOICE recommends taking the time to do your research and shop around for the best deal. Get quotes from a few brands and see which one provides the best value for money," says Bird.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
