Weirdest things your home insurance will (and won’t) cover

In any home and contents insurance policy, the terms and conditions will be littered with strange, delightful, and surprising little easter eggs. Like, what do you mean satellite crashes are covered? Why?!

So for the sheer (educational) joy of reading, here are some of the weirdest things your home insurance will and won’t cover*.

*Probably. Always read the product disclosure statement (PDS) first to get the full and specific story of your coverage.

Yep! If a satellite, meteor, or part of a rocketship strikes your home, it’s usually covered. But this benefit gets weirder: if the debris hits any underground parts of your house, like pipes or a garage, it’s suddenly not covered.

If you have loose rubies or diamonds scattered around your place like Scrooge McDuck, then unfortunately, these precious rocks aren’t covered under home insurance. 

This exclusion also applies to loose credit and debit cards, raw gold, ingots, bullion, Krugerrands, lottery tickets, registered securities, and coupons. Even your Beyoncé concert tickets won’t be covered!

Cash, however, may be covered up to certain limits.

Similarly with satellites, if a rogue drone or runaway speedboat suddenly crashes into your property, it’s probably covered under home insurance. Big caveat, though: if you own either, it’s not covered.

Maybe play with that Christmas drone in a park, not your backyard?

Turns out vampire rules apply when it comes to guests, theft, and home insurance: if you invited them in, or if someone in your house invited them in, then home insurance won’t compensate you if they steal or damage your stuff.

It’s about consent more than anything. By letting someone into your home, you accept the risk of their behaviour. Since providers can’t vet every single person who enters your home with a background check, it’s an awful lot of risk for them to take on board for your Sunday dinner party.

Provided you downloaded it legally, your video game software and other computer programs may be compensated under your home insurance policy, provided they were damaged in an insurable event like theft, fire, or flooding. Score!

While septic tanks are covered, their…um, contents aren’t. We shudder to imagine why this rule needs to be spelled out in the PDS, but to our sheer delight, it is.

This exclusion also goes for other types of fixed water tanks, like rainwater catchments or fish bowls: the container is covered, but the contents aren’t.

On the bright side, you may be able to insure your fish with an exotic pet insurance policy.

If you’re still grooving like it’s 1985, good news! Your burst waterbed could be covered by your contents insurance policy. 

Escape of water is a common insurance benefit, whether it’s ruptured Flexi hoses beneath your sink, leaky fridges, or burst pipes. You’ll need to prove the leak was spontaneous and accidental, not caused by poor maintenance on your part. 

So alas, if your waterbed is literally from 1985, good luck claiming it on your home insurance. But if for some reason it's from 2023, you may stand a chance!

Considering it would be the greatest and chiefest of all money hacks otherwise, home insurance providers have specified that no, you can’t claim your weekly rent on your policy. 

The one exception would be if you’ve had to evacuate your home due to a natural disaster and need emergency temporary accommodation. Comprehensive home insurance policies may reimburse your costs up to certain sub-limits, such as within a certain time frame or to specific amounts. 

Also: if you rent out your spare room, any contents owned by your tenant won’t be covered under your home insurance policy. (And if the provider discovers you’ve rented out parts of your property without notifying them, it may void your coverage). See landlord insurance instead.

BONUS! Weird exclusions for home insurance

For giggles and raised brows, here are some additional household items your home insurance most likely won’t cover. 

• Greenhouses
  
• Artificial grass
  
• Piles of unused building materials
  
• Retaining walls
  
• Livestock stables
  

But hey, at least CD collections, lawn bowls, and backyard playground equipment usually are! 

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