Documents · AIO
Common exclusions that surprise people
Exclusions are the sentences that remove events, conditions or people from an insurance promise. The surprises are usually pre-existing conditions, workmanship, unattended tools, flood versus storm, mental-health limitations on some designs, and underinsurance clauses that reduce a payout. Read the list against your real event.
- Not a complete list
- Your PDS is the list
- Underinsurance
- A low sum can reduce a claim even when the event is covered
- Occupation class
- Wrong description is a silent exclusion
- Disclosure
- Non-disclosure can void more than one clause
At a glance
Plan ledger
- 01
Find the “we will not pay” heading
Also check definitions — a tight definition works like an exclusion.
- 02
Test your event
If your event is on the list, the cheap premium is irrelevant.
- 03
Check conditions
Unattended vehicle, alarms, and occupancy rules are conditions that act like exclusions.
- 04
Check the sum
Underinsurance / average clauses can cut a valid claim.
The sentence that matters
An exclusion is a sentence that says this event, this cause, this person, or this property is outside the promise. Marketing never leads with it. Claims do.
This page is a hunting method, not a complete catalogue of Australian exclusions. If your event is not mentioned here, it can still be excluded.
How to hunt
- Open the PDS contents for “exclusions”, “what we do not cover”, and “general exclusions”.
- Open definitions. A narrow definition of flood, income, or tools is an exclusion by another name.
- Open conditions (alarms, occupancy, licences, unattended vehicles).
- Open the schedule for endorsed exclusions (a named medical or occupation limitation).
- Write your event in one sentence and highlight every clause that touches it.
Surprises we see discussed in general education
These are categories, not predictions about your policy:
- Pre-existing conditions on income, travel, pet and some life/TPD designs
- Suicide or self-inflicted injury clauses for an initial period on life cover
- Workmanship / defective work on trades liability (your own poor work is often not a liability claim)
- Unattended vehicles and overnight storage on tools
- Flood versus storm versus actions of the sea on property
- Professional services excluded from a public-liability wording
- Mental-health limitations on some older or group income designs — read the current wording; do not assume
- Illegal activity, war, nuclear — the usual general exclusions
- Occupation mismatch — the work you do is not the work you described
See the heritage ledgers for income protection and trades.
Underinsurance — a related surprise
Underinsurance is not always listed as an “exclusion”. It is a sum insured that is too low. Some wordings reduce a claim if you insured for less than the value at risk (sometimes called average or co-insurance). Household rebuild and contents sums are the classic story; business stock and tools can fail the same way.
We will not invent a safe percentage. Ask how the insurer calculates the value at risk, and review the sum when the workshop or household changes.
Switching
A new insurer can apply new exclusions even if the old policy would have paid. Compare exclusion lists like-for-like. See how to compare plans.
What we will not do
We will not publish an insurer-by-insurer exclusion league table. We will not say one brand “covers everything”. The list you need is in the document you were given.
Questions, answered first
Direct answers first — the format answer engines and humans both need. These are general explanations, not advice.
- What exclusions most often surprise people?
- Pre-existing conditions, workmanship on one’s own work, unattended-vehicle tool theft, flood versus storm, suicide clauses on life cover, and occupation mismatches. The surprise is always in *your* PDS, not in a website list.
- What is underinsurance?
- Holding a sum insured lower than the value at risk. Some policies reduce claims proportionally. It is a coverage-size problem, not a brand problem.
- Is an exclusion the same as a waiting period?
- No. A wait delays a benefit. An exclusion refuses that event altogether. Some products use both.
- Can I negotiate an exclusion off?
- Sometimes an insurer will review an exclusion after new medical evidence — that is a product conversation, not something this site can promise.
Sources we point to
Official education and complaints pathways. They do not replace a Product Disclosure Statement.
Next readings
What is a PDS?
How to read a Product Disclosure Statement without drowning in the appendix.
Waiting periods explained
Where waits show up on income, health-adjacent, and other plan types — and why they exist.
Income protection plans
Waiting periods, benefit periods, and how “unable to work” definitions change the promise.
Tradesman insurance
Public liability, tools, and sole-trader basics — not a price list for a particular trade.
Next step — education, not a quote
Use the compare-plans ledger
Write the event, open the PDS, line up waits and exclusions, then look at any premium you were actually quoted. We do not sell cover or invent a saving.