Common questions

An excess is the amount you contribute to a claim. On most Wattle policies you pay it once per claim, and if we are settling by payment we simply subtract it. Some events carry an additional excess, for example an earthquake excess, or a young driver excess on motor. Every excess that applies to you is printed on your certificate of insurance in figures, not buried in a schedule.

Yes. Wattle home and contents policies include flood as a standard covered event, using the standard definition of flood set out in the Insurance Contracts Regulations. We do not sell a version with flood stripped out. If your address sits inside a mapped flood overlay we will tell you before you buy, and we will show you what the premium looks like with and without mitigation work done.

CTP, called a Green Slip in New South Wales, covers injury to people. It is compulsory and in most states it is attached to your registration. Third party property covers damage your vehicle does to someone else property. Comprehensive covers that plus damage to your own vehicle, theft, fire and storm. CTP does not cover any vehicle damage at all, which is the single most common misunderstanding we hear on the phone.

For most events, no. There are two exceptions written plainly in the PDS. Flood has a 72 hour waiting period from the time the policy starts, and named cyclone has a 48 hour waiting period. Both exist to stop a policy being bought once a specific event is already forecast. If you are moving an existing policy from another insurer without a gap, the waiting period does not restart.

Under the General Insurance Code of Practice we must decide a straightforward claim within ten business days of getting everything we need. In practice, most motor and contents claims are decided in under four. If your claim comes from a declared catastrophe, we run it through a separate fast lane, and we will tell you within one business day who your assessor is.

Temporary accommodation starts before the claim is decided, not after. Ring the claims line, tell us the place is not safe to live in, and we arrange and pay for somewhere for you, your household and your pets. On home policies this runs up to twelve months, or up to the temporary accommodation limit on your certificate, whichever comes first.

On motor, yes. You can nominate your own repairer and we will work with them on price and parts, or you can use one of our authorised repairers and take the lifetime workmanship guarantee that comes with it. On property, we will normally appoint a builder from our panel because that is how we control both the price and the timeline, but you may put forward your own and we will assess their quote.