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Accidental damage cover

Whether your dinner guest spills red wine on the carpet, or one of your little angels sends a cricket ball into the TV screen, accidents happen. If you add Accidental damage cover to your standard Home Insurance policy, your family are covered for those moments when life throws a spanner in the works.

What is Accidental damage cover?

Accidental damage is an optional benefit that covers your home’s building, fixtures and belongings from sudden, unexpected and unintentional mishaps, like if your TV gets knocked over. Our standard home insurance policies cover specific events in your home like floods1, fires and theft. Accidental damage is included in our Home Plus insurance policies.

Insurance

What does Accidental damage insurance cover?

What's covered for buildings

This is a general overview of what our policies cover. For a more complete picture, read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

  • Your home’s structure
    Most of your home’s primary structure is protected from Accidental damage.

  • Home improvements and fixtures
    We cover home improvements and fixtures that are permanently built in or fixed to buildings. This doesn’t include retaining walls.

  • Secondary buildings
    Secondary buildings like sheds and garages are covered.

  • Fixed coverings
    We cover fixed coverings to walls, floors and ceilings, but not fixed carpets, curtains or internal blinds.

  • Swimming pools and spas
    We cover in-built swimming pools and spas.

  • Driveways
    We cover driveways that provide access to domestic buildings (but not gravel driveways).

What's covered for contents

  • Furniture and bedding
    Furniture, bedding, furnishings and rugs are covered.

  • Curtains and carpets
    You’re covered for accidental damage to curtains, carpets and internal blinds.

  • Household and kitchen appliances
    Appliances like vacuum cleaners and microwaves.

  • Electronic and electrical items
    Electric and electrical items are covered, including their accessories.

  • Tools of trade
    Tools of trade are covered, but limits apply to what we pay for these items.

  • Home improvement tools
    Home improvement tools like hammers and drills.

  • Medical items
    Glasses and other medical items.

  • Valuable contents
    We offer cover for valuable contents animals jewellery, watches and works of art.

What's not covered

  • Inherent and structural defects
    We don’t cover damage caused by structural issues in your home.

  • Mildew and algae
    We don’t cover damage caused by mildew and algae in your home.

  • Certain water events
    You won’t be covered if water enters your home through an opening made for the purpose of alterations, additions, renovations or repairs.

  • Animal damage
    We don’t cover damage caused by animals kept at your home.

  • Chemical cleaning
    We don’t cover damage caused by any cleaning processes involving chemicals.

  • Retaining walls
    Damage to retaining walls isn’t covered under Accidental damage Insurance.

  • Electronic malfunction or failure
    We don’t cover damage to electronic equipment or data due to mechanical or electronic malfunction or failure. We also don’t cover viruses or processing errors.

  • Some recreational equipment
    We don’t cover damage to fishing and sporting equipment, or musical instruments while someone is using them.

  • Firearms
    We don’t cover firearms if they’re damaged while someone is using them.

  • Wear and tear
    We don’t cover damage resulting from wear and tear, gradual deterioration or depreciation.

Is Accidental damage included in my Home Insurance policy?

We offer Accidental damage cover as an optional benefit you can add to our standard Home Buildings, Home Contents and Home Buildings & Contents Policies.

If you've got our top level of cover (these are our Home policies that end with 'Plus') you'll be automatically covered for Accidental damage.

Standard cover insures your home for policy-listed events that can cause significant and costly damage to your home, like fires, floods1 and vandalism. Accidental damage cover provides extra peace of mind when it comes to some everyday mishaps in the home, like unintentional holes in walls or damaged appliances.

How can I add Accidental damage cover to my NRMA Insurance policy?

For standard Home Insurance, simply get an online quote and add Accidental damage cover when prompted. Once your policy is in place, you’ll be covered for damage caused by accidents in your home.

You can also upgrade your existing policy at any time to include accidental cover through your online account.

For Home Building & Contents Plus Insurance, this cover is automatically included.

Why Australians choose NRMA Home Insurance?

New replacement for an old item

If one of your old belongings is accidentally damaged or destroyed, we’ll replace it with a brand new one if you have Accidental damage as part of your policy.

Cover if you forget to lock up

We’re only human. If you accidentally leave a window or door unlocked and someone breaks in, you’re still covered.

Lifetime guarantee

You’ll get a lifetime guarantee on the workmanship of all authorised repairs to your home.

FAQs

Accidental damage cover FAQs

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When deciding whether additional cover is worth the cost, try to consider your lifestyle and needs alongside your budget. If you’ve got a history of clumsy drink-knocks, are prone to dropping your laptop, or have kids that occasionally misdirect their shot on goal in the backyard, Accidental damage may cover you for future mishaps.

Accidental damage cover is an optional add-on for our Home Insurance policies. It’s automatically included in our Home Buildings Plus, Home Contents Plus and Home Buildings & Contents Plus policies.

Portable contents cover is for items you take outside your home, like jewellery, watches, smart phones and laptops. It’s an optional benefit you can add to your Home Insurance policy.

No, pet damage isn’t cover under Accidental damage cover. Our policies cover damage caused by animals not kept at your home.

Yes, you can add this cover to your existing standard Home Insurance policy at any time.

To make these changes, log into your online account.

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See other home insurance options

We can cover the cost to repair or rebuild if your home is damaged or destroyed by an incident we cover, up to the sum insured.

Plus, if your home is damaged by a covered incident and it becomes unliveable, we’ll help cover the costs of temporary accommodation for up to a year, or up to two years if you have a Home Buildings and Contents Plus policy.2

Want more premium cover? Consider Home Buildings Plus when you get a quote.

We offer cover for items in your home, even if you accidentally leave a window or door unlocked.

Plus, you can add portable contents  cover for items like laptops or jewellery that might get lost or stolen when you’re out and about.

For premium contents cover, choose Home Contents Plus when you’re getting a quote.

Protect your home and the things you keep inside of it with a combined home and contents policy. Your buildings and items will be covered for a range of incidents.

Plus, we offer a lifetime guarantee on the workmanship of authorised repairs to your home.

And if you’re looking for our highest level of cover, choose Home Buildings & Contents Plus when you’re getting a quote.

Things you should know

  1. We don’t cover actions of the sea, such as tides and waves. Check the PDS for a full list of exclusions. For insured properties in NSW, ACT or Tasmania, if we give you the option to remove cover for flood, rainwater run-off and storm surge from your Contents Insurance and you choose to do so, you won’t be covered for loss or damage to your contents caused by flood, rainwater run-off or storm surge.

  2. If you’re renting the home, we pay the reasonable extra rent costs for temporary accommodation. If you own and live in your home, we cover the reasonable costs of temporary accommodation. As long as you were living in the damaged home permanently before the incident, we pay for accommodation for up to a year for the Home Buildings and Contents Standard policy (or up to two years if you have a Home Buildings and Contents Plus policy), or when your home is repaired or replaced (whichever is first). We pay your temporary accommodation costs up to 10% of your sum insured for Home Buildings and Contents Standard policies, and up to 20% for Home Buildings and Contents Plus. We need to be satisfied your home is unliveable and we need to agree to the cost before you make arrangements.