A Canstar study of the direct life insurance market has found policies now offer more levels of cover and additional features for competitive annual premiums.

“Direct life insurance policies have become increasingly feature-rich during the past 12 months,” Group Manager Research and Ratings Mitchell Watson said.

“We are seeing a greater number of funds offering optional extras such as funeral insurance, trauma cover and total and permanent disability cover.

“We are also seeing an increase in the maximum sum insured value, an increase in the number of funds offering guaranteed future insurability and premium waiver under certain conditions.”

As part of its annual sector review, Canstar has ranked NobleOak Life and Insure Me Now as the top providers.

It assessed 31 direct life policies from 28 insurers.

“NobleOak has won the award for the first time this year,” Mr Watson said. “It offers an outstanding value proposition by combining great price and features. NobleOak was the price leader within 17 profiles out of the 20 we considered.”

He says Insure Me Now has won for the third year in a row. “Insure Me Now is competitive within the direct life insurance space and provides an array of features.”