INSURANCE TERMS – PLAIN ENGLISH POLICY

The following are typical definitions of insurance terms used in modern plain English insurance policies:

• CREDIT PROVIDER: Means a licensed credit provider, or a bank, building society, or credit union.
• DAMAGE: Includes any breakage or form of destruction caused to your home. Damage does not include wear and tear.
• DE FACTO: means a person living with another in what we determine to be a genuine domestic relationship.
• DEPRECIATION: is an amount deducted from the replacement value, based on the age and condition of the house.
• EXCESS: is the amount you would normally pay when you make a claim on this policy. You do not pay an excess when you take out or renew a policy.
• FIXTURE: means any item which is permanently attached or fixed to the structure of your home.
• FLOOD: is a general exclusion.
• HOME IMPROVEMENTS: are any permanent additions in or around your home that add value to the cost of rebuilding or repairing it. They include things such as a garage, pool, carport, and permanent landscaping features. They do not include trees, shrubs, soil, or any natural bushland.
• INCIDENT: includes a series of incidents arising out f the one event.
• INDEMNITY VALUE: is the replacement value of your home less a reasonable allowance for depreciation based on the age and condition of your home.
• LEGAL CONSTRUCTION: is a building (or part of a building), that is on your site and has met with:
• council or controlling authority’s regulations, or
• the requirements of any statutory authority at the time it was built or last renovated.
• PET: is a domestic animal, not used at any time for racing or commercial breeding purposes, kept in the home or on the site.
• REPLACEMENT VALUE: is the amount of money it would cost to totally rebuild your house and all the home improvements on the site.
• SITE: means the land on which your home is located and the yard or garden surrounding it at the address of your home stated in the Policy Schedule. It is that land used only for domestic purposes.
• STORM: is violent wind (including cyclones and tornadoes), thunderstorms or hail which may be accompanied by rain or snow.
• SUM INSURED: is the amount of insurance cover you have purchased for your home. It is the amount shown in the Policy Schedule .
• THEFT: includes burglary or housebreaking.
• YOU: means the person or persons named as the insured in the current Policy Schedule. If more than one person is named as the insured in the current Policy Schedule, the insurer will treat a statement, act, omission, or a claim by any one of those persons as a statement, act, omission, or a claim by all those persons.
• YOUR FAMILY: means your spouse (legal or de facto) and any member of your family or your spouse’s family who normally live with you.
• YOUR HOME: means the house used for domestic purposes plus all fixtures and home improvements on the site.

See insurance terms