If they did list everything NOT covered would you read that? You don't even need to read "The fine print" to see what flooding isn't covered - it's in the plain English PDS.
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I did not deal direct with the insurance company,it was through a 3rd party and I can distinctly remember asking that question.The answer I got was about water damage storms but not riverine.I would have queried that word as I had not heard of it until last week when the Insurance fiasco exploded.They are still bloody sharks,fall behind with installments and they are on your hammer straight away,put in a claim and it's go slow week all over again.
1000's here in Queensland were in the same boat as I was,thought they had the proper cover but have found out they have not..thanks to the dirty tricks dept. in certain companies.
Do you work somewhere in the insurance industry?
Yes, I'm in the large Qld based company that everyone is now talking about how comprehensive the cover is, but prior to the floods were laying the boot in because we were "so expensive" and apparently we were ripping everyone off then. Now it's supposedly the cheap companies, providing such great deals on insurance, that are now supposedly ripping people off.
I do truly feel for those who thought they had done the right thing, but the truth is that PDS are pretty clear on what flooding is and isn't covered, so I get a bit miffed when people say a company is trying to get out of paying something - when they were open with the information when they took your money.
It is a complex business, and a company who starts paying out claims that are not covered under policies will have a very hard time trying to get reinsurance, which means no APRA approval, and that means no more insurance company. So you have this odd situation where governments are putting pressure on Insurers to pay out on a non-covered event, but through the regulator come down hard on companies with sloppy controls (ie paying out money for things that aren't covered - called "leakage"). So Companies like Suncorp decide it's easier to just cover everything, and make everyone pay for flood cover as part of the standard policy.
Then you have the consumers (yes I'm in that group too) who make decisions based on price. So companies cut stuff out to make cheap options, that cover less. But they make the exclusions pretty clear.
So if a company says they can offer you cheap insurance - particularly when they compare to another insurer, you need to be asking why, and how.