Budget Direct is an insurance brand of Auto & General headquartered in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Their Car and Home Insurance policies are underwritten by Auto & General Insurance Company Limited. Auto & General Insurance Company is an Australian insurance company regulated by APRA and is an active member of the Insurance Council of Australia. Budget Direct is part of the Budget Insurance group, established in the early 1970s, which collects billion in premiums each year for the group's 6.8 million policies.

Operations

Budget Direct operates three call centres located in Queensland at Kawana Waters,

North Lakes North Lakes is a suburb in the Moreton Bay Region, Queensland, Australia. According to the , North Lakes had a population of 23,030 people. Geography The suburb is mostly made up of newly developed housing originally around the North Lakes G ...

as well as at the company's headquarters located in Toowong, Brisbane. The company also has multiple assessment centres in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. As of April 2020, the company has over 1 million policy holders and over 1,700 staff. In 2016 Budget Direct launched in Singapore offering Car, Motorcycle and Travel Insurance.

Advertising

Budget Direct's previous television advertisements depicted a couple called Michael and Michelle. The ads revolved around Michelle's mispronunciation of the word "Budget" whilst explaining the benefits of Budget Direct insurance to Michael who continually corrects her pronunciation. In August 2013 Budget Direct rebranded with an alien version of the shower ad with animated aliens instead of Michelle and Michael. This also included a revelation of a new brand positioning and logo created by Hulsbosch. In January 2014 it was reported that the brand had engaged 303Lowe with the release of new TV ads featuring a daredevil by the name of Captain Risky and tagline "We don't insure Captain Risky to keep prices low", to explain the brand's low to medium risk market positioning. In 2018 a new series of television advertisements were launched with a detective character called 'Sarge' (played by Hamish Clark). The advertisements feature Sarge and a sidekick tackling fantastical and science fiction-based mysteries with the tagline ''Insurance Solved''.

Awards

Budget Direct has won the CANSTAR award for Outstanding Value Car Insurance every year from 2007 to 2022. Budget Direct won the ''Money'' Magazine Insurer of the Year award for their Car and Home Insurance products every year from 2017 to 2022. They have also won the ''Money'' Magazine Best-Value Car Insurance award from 2019 to 2022.Budget Direct: About us https://www.choice.com.au/products/money/insurance/car/budget-direct-gold-car-insurance

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/ Insurance companies of Australia Financial services companies established in 1999 Companies based in Brisbane 1999 establishments in Australia