Questions, hardest first

Fair question, and you are right to ask it.

After a big storm, ASIC’s Moneysmart and the Insurance Council of Australia warn people about operators who knock on doors, pressure you to sign on the spot, ask for cash, and then take a cut of your payout. That warning exists for good reason.

Here is how you can check us, rather than take our word for it.

• We are licensed. Handling an insurance claim on your behalf is a regulated financial service in Australia. We operate under Australian Financial Services Licence 532061, and you can look that up on the ASIC register yourself. Plenty of people knocking on doors after a storm are not licensed at all, so ask them for their number.
• You have a free, independent umpire. We are covered by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. It costs you nothing to complain to them and their decisions are binding on us.
• We will not ask you to sign anything at your door, and we will never ask you for money or bank details.
• You stay in control. It is your claim, your policy and your insurer, and you can speak to them at any time.
• And if we inspect your roof and find nothing wrong, we will tell you that in writing and leave it there.

There is no upfront fee, and in most cases you will not get a separate invoice from us. Here is exactly how we are paid.

• If you repair through our licensed builder, we are paid a share of the builder’s margin once the job is finished. That is why there is no separate bill to you.
• If you take a cash settlement instead of repairing, a fee applies. We will show you the amount in writing before you decide anything.
• If you use your own builder, our fee is 15 per cent of the insurance payment. Again, in writing and as a dollar figure before you commit.
• Your excess. We contribute up to $500 towards your insurance excess. Above that it depends on your situation, and we will tell you upfront rather than after the fact.

One thing worth saying plainly: we earn more when you repair through us than when you take cash or use your own builder. You should know that when you are weighing up your options. All three remain your choice.

You can. It is your money and your decision.

Some people prefer cash so they can organise the work themselves, or spend it differently. A few things are worth knowing first.

Insurers often calculate cash offers using their own contractor rates, which can be lower than what you will actually pay a builder. If it falls short, you generally cannot go back and ask for more.

Repairs arranged through an insurer usually come with a warranty. Work you organise yourself with a cash payout may not.

If you have a mortgage, your lender may need to be involved.

If your insurer offers you cash, you should receive a written Cash Settlement Fact Sheet setting out your options. Read it before you sign anything.

To be upfront: if you take cash, a fee applies and we earn less than if we manage the repair. So please make the decision that suits you, not us. Free independent help is available from the Financial Rights Legal Centre, and the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

Possibly, and your insurer decides that, not us.

Insurers do look at claims history when they price a renewal, so a claim can be one of the factors. Many treat a claim from a declared storm event differently from an at fault claim, but that varies between insurers and we cannot speak for yours.

Worth keeping in perspective: home insurance premiums have been rising across Australia for everyone, driven mainly by major weather events and higher building costs. That happens whether you claim or not. Choosing not to use cover you have already paid for does not protect you from those increases.

We cannot promise your premium will not change, and we would be cautious of anyone who does. If you want a straight answer, ask your insurer directly how a storm claim affects your renewal.

It depends on your insurer and how stretched local trades are. Here is a realistic picture rather than a sales answer.

A straightforward claim can be assessed within a few weeks.

Your insurer is required by the General Insurance Code of Practice to decide on your claim within four months, and within ten business days once they have everything they need. Twelve months applies only in unusual circumstances.

After a major storm, repairs often take longer simply because builders and materials are in short supply across the whole region. That part is outside anyone’s control, including ours.

What we do is keep things moving. We lodge the claim properly, chase the insurer, and project manage the repair so you are not the one sitting on hold. We will give you honest timeframes as we go rather than a date we cannot hold to.

Tell us, and know that you have a free independent backstop if we do not sort it out.

Start with us. We will work through your complaint under our licensee’s formal complaints process, and you will get a written response within 30 days, sooner where we can.

If you are still not satisfied, go to AFCA. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority is an independent umpire for financial complaints. It is free to you and its decisions are binding on us.

AFCA: 1800 931 678, www.afca.org.au, [email protected], GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001.

You never pay to complain to AFCA. If any company suggests otherwise, treat that as a warning sign.

Yes. It is your home and your choice of builder.

If you would rather use your own, our fee is 15 per cent of the insurance payment. That covers the work already done in inspecting, lodging and negotiating your claim with the insurer.

We will always show you that as a dollar figure in writing before you commit to anything, so you can compare your options properly.

If you prefer, our licensed builder can do the work with no separate fee to you. Either way, the choice is yours to make.

Possibly not, but it is worth checking sooner rather than later.

Older storm damage can sometimes still be claimed. A few things matter.

• Insurers expect you to claim as soon as reasonably practicable. A late claim is not automatically refused, and Australian law limits an insurer’s ability to knock one back purely for being late. But the more time passes, the harder it becomes to show the storm caused the damage rather than ordinary wear and tear.
• There are outer limits. Generally around six years for this kind of claim in Queensland and New South Wales, so it is not open ended.
• If your claim came from a declared catastrophe and was settled quickly, you may have up to twelve months to ask your insurer to review it.

We cannot promise your insurer will accept an older claim, and no honest business could. What a free inspection will tell you is whether the damage looks storm related and worth lodging. If it does not, we will put that in writing.