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When it comes to your life, home, travels, belongings and business, insurance is crucial and well-appreciated if or when the unexpected happen.
However, there seems to be a false sense of security among many Australians that their insurance policies cover all. In fact, now might be a good time to review your insurance coverage with your insurance broker to see what’s really covered and if there’s anything important you might have missed.
Want to know what isn’t always covered by your insurance policy? Read more from a team of Gold Coast insurance brokers to find out.
Home and Contents Insurance
Insurance for your home and its contents is designed to cover any loss and/or damages caused by meticulously defined or insured events.
The most common causes for a claim are from:
- Fire
- Floods
- Storm
- Theft
- Vandalism
However, it’s so important that you read the fine print when it comes to the level of home and contents insurance that you have in place. It’s there, that you’ll find any and all exclusions.
For example, this could be events and damaged caused by:
- The sea or smoke
- Landslides
- Power failures
You might think any of the above won’t affect you, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry!
What may be covered in some insurance policies, may be excluded by the next.
Talk to your professional insurance broker about finding and securing the best home and contents insurance products based on the location of your home and the amount and variety of your contents.
Business Insurance
Some specified exclusions apply to different business insurance products too.
For example, injury to your employees, civil legal liability as a result of professional advice, pollution, asbestos and product recalls are not covered under Public and Products Liability Insurance. However, injury to your employees can be covered under Workers Compensation Insurance and Civil legal liability can be covered by Professional Indemnity Insurance.
Likewise, the exclusions to Business Interruption Insurance include:
- Broken items from a covered event or loss
- Flood or earthquake damage
- Undocumented income
- Utilities (as they’re often switched off when a business closes due to damage)
- Communicable diseases that result in a shutdown of your business operations.
If there’s something that’s excluded in your current level of insurance, you have a right to know and a right to review if the policy is still (or ever was) right for you.
A real-life case study to put the importance of insurance in perspective
Think the unimaginable won’t happen to you? It did, to this fellow Queenslander.
A Queensland landlord recently lost a dispute with their insurance provider after finding their tenant’s decomposing body in their holiday unit. The landlord submitted an insurance claim for damage that was ‘so severe and difficult to rectify’ as a result of the physical decomposition of the body of the deceased tenant.
How did this happen?
The landlord alleged the “undetermined” death should fall within the policy’s “vandalism and malicious damage by tenants or their guest’s” coverage. However, the insurance provider declined the claim on the grounds that the landlord’s broker had failed to select optional accidental cover.
As a result, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) ruled that the damage wasn’t covered and that the insurance company acted fairly and reasonably in the claim’s assessment.
So, what is the takeaway here? Always know and understand fully, the insurance coverage and any and all exclusions that apply. And if you don’t, ask your insurance broker to talk you through it (that’s what they’re there for).
Get the insurance you need with Crest Insurance
Crest Insurance are a boutique Gold Coast insurance broker team who are dedicated to getting you the right insurance products for your specific needs.
Whether it’s individual insurance, business insurance, both or some other form, we’ll ensure you acquire the best insurance products and packages tailored for you.
Think you might need to review your insurance policies?
Contact Crest Insurance today for help and advice.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this news post is general in nature and is intended to provide a general summary only and should not be relied on as a substitute for professional advice.
