Property Insurance
3. Contents Insurance Policies
Authors: Staff Legal Eagle
Firm / Chambers:
Last updated: 08 Sep 2015
- Contents insurance protects any personal property kept inside your household that belongs to you or other eligible people living with you.
- It also covers the financial cost of repairing or replacing personal property.
- Contents insurance covers the people listed on the certificate of insurance as well as family members who normally live with them at the insured property.
- The term ‘family members’ generally includes the insured person’s:
- spouse, partner or de facto;
- parents, parents-in-law, grandparents;
- children, grandchildren and those of their spouse, partner or de facto; and
- brother and sisters including their spouse, partner or de facto.
- Depending on your policy contents insurance can cover household items belonging to you and your family members who live with you such as:
- curtains;
- computers;
- electrical appliances;
- clothing;
- jewellery;
- sporting equipment;
- furniture;
- toys;
- art; and
- antique items.
- Generally a contents insurance policy does not cover items that visitors bring onto your premises.
- For example your new housemate’s belongings will not be covered until you list their name on the policy.
- Expensive possessions such as a 10-carat diamond ring or a $10,000 home theatre system may not be automatically covered under contents insurance policies.
- Most insurance companies offer additional extras on top of the basic cover to protect expensive items.
- When choosing your contents insurance policy you can usually select between two options for the amount of compensation you will receive if your belongings are lost or damaged:
- the value of your belongings; or
- the cost of replacing your belongings with new items (known as ‘new for old’).
- The ‘new for old’ option tends to make your insurance policy premiums more expensive.
- However if you choose the ‘value of your belongings’ option you may receive enough compensation to replace the belongings.
View more Information on Compensation & Insurance