How to make a home insurance claim without receipts

When making a home insurance claim, you’ll want to ensure that you’re paid out enough to cover the cost of repairing or replacing every affected item. So it’s important to be able to establish which item you’re claiming for and how much they cost. But how do you do this if you can’t find your receipts? Can you still make a claim? Luckily, there are multiple ways of proving ownership without receipts.

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Are receipts required for insurance claims?

When you make a home insurance claim, you’ll need to be able to provide your insurer with proof of loss, ownership, and value. 

Allowing your insurer to look at what’s damaged, either in person or via photos or videos, is usually all that’s needed to prove loss. But for lost, damaged or stolen items that are no longer available for inspection, you may have to validate your claim by giving us details of when and where they were purchased, and how much they cost. If you can’t, your claim might be refused, or the amount you’re paid out reduced. 

Proof of purchase in the form of a sales receipt is generally the easiest way to support your claim, but there are a few other methods. 

Other methods of proving ownership

Check with the retailer

If you can’t find your receipt, consider contacting the store you bought the item from. They may be able to send you a duplicate receipt. 

Bank statement

A bank statement may show the transaction in which you bought the item, if you used a debit or credit card to purchase it.

Photos and other evidence 

Photos can be helpful in proving you owned an item. A close-up is best, but we may even be able to use photos of your home where the item is clearly in the background.

Other supporting materials could include:

• instruction manuals, 
• accessories for an electronic item, 
• a valuation from a qualified professional valuer, 
• manufacturer’s box, 
• certificate of authenticity, or 
• proof of inheritance and a full description, including things like brand and model. 

Some items such as jewellery, watches, paintings, pictures, works of art and sculptures do require a minimum of proof for assessment, so please read the PDS or contact us for more information. 

Assessor’s judgement

We do everything we can to help customers when they claim, even if they can't provide one of the things noted above. The claims assessor may make a judgement call based on the premise that a reasonable person would have such an item – such as a TV – and we may replace the item with a base model.

Making a GIO Home Insurance claim 

Lost or damaged items? Quickly and easily make a GIO Home Insurance claim online or in the GIO App. 

To help speed up the process, have ready:

• your GIO policy number, 
• details about when the event occurred, what happened and what has been affected, 
• any relevant documents, photos and videos, and 
• the make and model of any electrical items.

Make a claim

Read more:

• Renting and contents insurance explained 
• How much should you insure your house for?

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.