Insurers have already received about 360 claims from the mid-north coast of New South Wales since the latest fires broke out, with many more expected to come.

Here we answer a few of your questions about insurance for bushfires.

A house burns in Bora Ridge on Tuesday afternoon. ( ABC News: Matt Coble )

First up, what sort of insurance covers bushfires?

Home and contents insurance will cover you for bushfires, though different insurers have different definitions of what they will cover, so check the fine print.

Cars need separate cover and compulsory third party will not cover damage from bushfires. You will need fire coverage for that.

Loading

Do I need insurance against bushfires?

Like all insurance decisions, that's entirely up to you.

"You need to carefully consider your own circumstances and look at independent advice beyond calculators provided by insurers and commercial brokers or websites," says Jonathan Brown of consumer group Choice.

Do bear in mind though that we're seeing bushfires in more areas than ever before.

And given the dry weather conditions, it's entirely possible that the home you may have previously thought was not at risk could now be in a bushfire zone.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 16 seconds 16 s Plane dumps water on fire at Lake Mary

What level of cover do I need?

Again, it's up to you, but if you want coverage that will allow you to completely rebuild in the event your home is destroyed, you need to make sure you have adequate coverage.

"About 80 per cent of insured property owners are probably under insured," says Campbell Fuller of the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 24 seconds 1 m 24 s Flames near Sydney homes

One thing to bear in mind is that if your home is totally destroyed you may need to rebuild it to a higher standard — taking into account regulations around bushfire risks — so insuring it for its current worth may not be enough.

There are two types of home insurance: total replacement cover, or sum-insured cover.

The latter will cover you up to a set amount you choose to repair or rebuild your home.

Mr Brown also warns: "Some of the worst clauses allow insurers to base payouts on the rates they can purchase materials and labour at, rather than the actual costs of rebuilding or repairing your home.

"It may be worth considering a total replacement policy.

"Or if you are looking at sum insured, getting some independent quotes from builders to inform how much you need to insure."

ASIC's MoneySmart website has detailed advice about what to consider when taking out home and contents insurance, and many insurers have insurance calculators.

The ICA also recommends doing a room by room inventory of goods well before bushfire season, so should the worst happen you're not trying to remember what belongings you had after a fire.

When is it too late to take out coverage for bushfires?

"If a bushfire is burning down your back fence, it's too late," Mr Fuller says.

"For insurance, you're trying to insure against the unknown, not the known."

It's not just the house you have to think about. ( ABC News: Liv Casben )

He says most insurers will already have put in place an embargo on new policies for the areas currently affected by bushfires, or if they are still selling policies they will have a no-claim period.

There is not one specific bushfire warning level after which all insurers won't cover you, but taking it out earlier rather than later means you are more likely to be covered.

What if I'm not sure if I'm insured, or by which insurer?

The ICA has set up a national hotline for anyone with questions about their bushfire insurance, including helping to link them with their insurer: 1800 734 621.

And don't worry about needing to find your insurance documents if you're evacuating a home — your insurer will have all the details, so concentrate on getting the photos instead.

What is a typical bushfire payout?

Mr Fuller says there is no typical payout as all homes, fires and policies are different.

But we do have an idea of how much insurers have paid out this year alone in bushfire claims.

Claims for this week's fires will reach tens of millions. ( ABC News: Paige Cockburn )

In October, the Rappville bushfire resulted in 200 claims, with insured losses estimated at $25 million.