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Home insurance claims

Everything you need to know about making a home or contents insurance claim

Claim online
Track a claim
After an accident
Preparing your claim
Making a claim
After you’ve claimed
Claim online
Track a claim
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What to do right after an incident

The most important thing is the safety of you and anyone else in your house. Make sure you evacuate the area and call emergency services if you need to.

Depending on the extent of the damage, we may suggest some arrangements to help keep you and your home safe. This might be temporary repairs or accommodation.

Who to call for help

  • For emergency help, call 000
  • For floods or storms, call the State Emergency Services (SES) on 132 500

How to make a home insurance claim

If your home or contents have been impacted by an insured event, like a fire, storm or burglary, we’ll help  make your claim as simple as possible.

  • Preparing your claim

    Gather details of the incident and check your policy documents to see what you’re covered for.

  • Making your claim

    Log in to make a claim online in less than 20 minutes, or by calling 13 19 03.

  • After you’ve submitted your claim

    Your claim will be assessed by the team. They’ll be in touch if they need more details.

Preparing your claim

Here’s what you need to do before you start your claim.

Gather details of the incident

It’s helpful to get all the required details you before you start your claim, like:

  • the time of the incident
  • a description of what happened
  • photographs of any damage
  • a damage report if necessary
  • proof of ownership (for contents claims)
  • a police or fire brigade report if necessary.

Check your cover

Log in to your online account to view your policy documents, which will show your:

  • policy number and expiry dates
  • policy summary
  • excesses
  • building or contents sum insured
  • optional cover (if applicable).

See the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for a full list of inclusions and exclusions.

Proof of ownership is usually needed if your contents are lost, stolen, burned or damaged beyond recognition. You can provide:

  • copies of receipts
  • credit card or bank statements showing when you purchased the item
  • item packaging
  • photos of the item
  • a valuation certificate.

An excess is the amount you contribute toward the cost of a claim.

Your basic excess may be: $100, $200, $300, $500, $750, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, $5,000. 

You would have chosen this when you purchased your policy. 

If you added Accidental Damage cover and make a claim, you'll pay a $300 excess instead of your basic excess. If a special excess applies to your policy, you'll need to pay this as well as your basic excess.

You can read more about the different types of excesses in the Premium, Excess, Discounts and Benefits Guide.

Making a claim

After you’ve submitted your claim

RACV Insurance will start by assessing the information you’ve provided. 

For buildings claims, they may need to organise an inspection of your property. Otherwise, they’ll review your damage report.

For contents claims, they’ll review photos of your damaged items or proof of ownership for stolen items.

From there, they can decide on a settlement.

Did you know?

Any authorised RACV repairer work comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Ways your claim could be settled

For buildings claims

If your claim is settled with a repair or rebuild, you’ll be provided with a full scope of work.

Once you review and approve the intended work, we’ll help arrange a time to start repairs.

For content claims

Where possible, your contents will be repaired or restored. 

If anything needs replacing, this will be organised with our network of suppliers. Otherwise a store credit or cash payout may be arranged.

Self-settling your claims

In some cases, you can log in to settle your claims online. The settlement amount can be paid into your bank account or can be selected as a digital store card. 

Sometimes claims are denied. Every situation is different, but it’s usually because: 

  • the damage isn’t caused by an event listed on your policy
  • the damage isn’t included in your type of cover - for example, claiming for contents damage when you have building cover only
  • information is missing from the documents you provided, such as photos of damage or proof of ownership
  • there was no valid policy in place at the time of the claim. 

You can easily pay your excess by logging into your online account or by calling RACV Insurance on 13 19 03.

Repairs and replacement

You can choose to use preferred repairers, suppliers or builders from the RACV network to help you save time researching and comparing quotes, then overseeing the work. Plus, any repairs organised by RACV Insurance will have a lifetime guarantee.

Otherwise, you have the option to choose your own repairer. In this case, you'll be paid the fair and reasonable amount that the repairs should cost, but you'll need to manage and arrange the repairs yourself.

The first step is to speak directly to the repairer about your concerns. If you’re still unhappy, please call RACV Insurance on 13 19 03 to discuss next steps

Keep in mind that repairs and rebuilds that have been authorised by RACV Insurance come with a lifetime guarantee. This means that any defects caused by poor workmanship will be repaired by an RACV Insurance partner repairer. This guarantee doesn’t apply if you authorised the repairs yourself, and doesn’t cover general wear and tear.

If your home has been assessed and you can’t live there after an insured event, RACV Insurance will work out how long it should take to repair or rebuild the damage. 

During this time, your RACV Buildings Insurance may cover:

  • temporary accommodation for you, others in your household and your pets for up to 12 months
  • the removal and storage of your items for up to 12 months
  • reasonable and appropriate living expenses.

Keep in mind that this cover will only apply if you lived in your home permanently prior to the insured event. See the Product Disclosure Statement for a full list of conditions, limits and exclusions.

Yes, if your items are stolen or damaged beyond repair after an insured event, you’ll get a new equivalent item, regardless of the age of the original item, as standard.

The information provided is general advice only. Before making any decisions please consider your own circumstances and the Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determinations. For copies, visit racv.com.au. As distributor, RACV Insurance Services Pty Ltd AFS Licence No. 230039 receives commission for each policy sold or renewed. Product(s) issued by Insurance Manufacturers of Australia Pty Ltd ABN 93 004 208 084 AFS Licence No. 227678.