Budget Direct - Budget Auto Insurance

Budget Direct is low cost, value focussed insurance brand of Auto & General headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. 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 administers over 3 million policies globally.

Operations

Budget Direct operates two call centres located in Queensland at Kawana Waters and North Lakes. The company's headquarters are located in Toowong, Brisbane. The company also has multiple assessment centres in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. As of August 2013, the company had over 550,000 policy holders and over 800 staff.

Budget Car Insurance

Advertising

Budget Direct's television advertisements depict a couple called Michael and Michelle. The ads revolve 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 rebanded with an alien version of the shower ad with animated aliens instead of Michelle and Michael. This also included a reveal 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 new messaging of "We don't insure Captain Risky to keep prices low", to explain the brand's low to medium risk market positioning.

Awards

Budget Direct has won the CANSTAR award for Outstanding Value Car Insurance every year from 2007 to 2014. In December 2013, it was announced Budget Direct had won the Australian Money magazine Best of the Best award for both Cheapest Car Insurance and Cheap Home & Contents Insurance.

Budget Direct has also won the Award for Happiest Customers 2014 from social media monitoring website ServiceRage.com.