Accidental damage at home coverage explained

Home and contents insurance policies generally cover loss or damage caused by certain insured events. Insured events should be outlined in the relevant product disclosure documents and may include events such as fire, theft, and storms.

However, depending on the specifics of your policy, this cover may not extend to accidental loss of, or damage to, items around the home. GIO accidental damage at home cover can give you that extra peace of mind.*

What is accidental damage insurance?

GIO accidental damage at home is an optional cover designed to cover exactly that – accidental loss or damage at the insured address. That can mean incidents from breaking a vase, to a spilled drink staining a carpet, to losing a cherished ring down the drain.

This cover isn't a standalone item. It can be a part of a GIO Home Insurance, Contents Insurance, or Home and Contents Insurance policy.

How to add accidental damage at home cover to your GIO policy

Whether your policy covers your home, contents, or both, if you have a GIO Classic Extras or GIO Platinum level of cover you don’t need to worry about accidental damage at home – it’s automatically included.

For a Classic Home level of cover, you can choose to add accidental damage at home as an optional cover, in exchange for paying extra on your premium.

Read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for more information.

Explore GIO Home and Contents Insurance

Keeping a home inventory list for insurance

A home inventory is a list of things the personal items you keep at home, along with proof of their value and can be useful for calculating how much home and contents insurance that you require, and provide the value of your items in an insured event.

For items like heirloom jewellery, antique-store finds, and collector’s items you may want to get them valued professionally. That way, you have an independent, professional valuation of how much they’re worth – which could assist during the claims process if covered by your insurance policy.*  

It’s worth noting that some items, for example jewellery and hand-woven rugs, have flexible limits. These are items where you can choose to increase their limit for an extra premium. When you do this they become ‘Specified contents items’, and are covered for that increased amount at the insured address. You can learn more, including the standard limits for non-specified items, by checking the PDS.

What does GIO accidental damage at home coverage include?

If you have accidental damage for the building, GIO can offer cover for:

• Accidental impact to the walls when shifting furniture.
• Accidentally dropping something and cracking your floor tiles, except in shower bases.
• A newly-hung painting that falls off the wall, taking part of the plaster with it.

If you have accidental damage for the contents, GIO can offer cover for:

• Damaging your furniture with stains or spills.
• Stumbling and knocking a new TV off its stand.
• Accidentally dropping and breaking your laptop as you move from your couch to your desk.

These are just a few examples of possible cover incidents. It's always a good idea to check the policy documents* to get a fuller picture, including a full list of covered events.

Exclusions and limitations

The amount covered by GIO accidental damage at home is limited to the home sum insured or the contents sum insured, for home or contents cover respectively.

Some examples of events that are not covered are:

• any loss or damage that is covered under a separate insured event
• damage caused by tenants or paying guests (though this may be covered under GIO Landlord Insurance), and
• damage that arises as a result of wear, tear and gradual degradation. This includes damage from the process of liquid leaking, splashing, dripping or overflowing over a period of time.

For exclusions and limitations, read the PDS.

Need to make a claim?

Claiming online is easy – and it should only take about 10 minutes. All you need is:

• your GIO policy number
• details about when the incident occurred, what happened, and what was affected, and
• for electrical items, details about the make and model to help speed up your claim.

We’ll take it from there.

Make a claim

Read more:

• How to make a home insurance claim without receipts
• Do you have the right home insurance policy?
• A guide to reading your car insurance PDS

* Subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions of your policy.

Insurance issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as GIO. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement before buying this insurance. The Target Market Determination is also available. This article has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it.