5 common incidents where Personal Valuables insurance can help

We’ve all had the heart-stopping moment of tapping our pocket only to feel an empty space where a phone is supposed to be.

Having cover for this sort of thing can be just what’s needed to ensure you can repair or replace items that are lost or damaged while you’re away from home.

Consider Personal Valuables cover

If you want insurance for stuff like phones, jewellery and wallets – sometimes called portable valuables insurance elsewhere – consider our Personal Valuables cover. It’s available as an optional extra with Suncorp Home and Contents Insurance and Contents Only Insurance policies.

Items that can be repaired or replaced with Personal Valuables cover are items that are personal belongings carried with you away from your home, for example:

• electronic devices like mobile phones, laptops, tablets and their accessories
• jewellery and watches
• handbags and wallets
• photographic equipment, and
• sporting, recreational and leisure goods and equipment.

Check the PDS for more information.

The difference between specified and unspecified valuables

When you take out a Suncorp Home and Contents or Contents Only Insurance policy, you can choose to add the optional extra Personal Valuables cover. Once you do, there are two ways to cover your eligible items.

Personal Valuables – Unspecified Items

This covers items that haven’t been listed on your policy. You select an amount from our options, for example $3,000, and it covers you up to a total of $3,000 for all portable valuables lost or damaged in any one incident, to a maximum of $1,000 per item. For stuff worth less than a grand, like your sunnies, wallet, or favourite gym bag and running shoes, that may be all that’s needed. However, for a more valuable item, unspecified cover may not be the most effective option.

Personal Valuables – Specified Items

For more expensive items that you want insured for more than $1,000, it may be better to list them on your policy. This makes them specified items, and we’ll insure them for up to an agreed amount even if it’s over $1,000, as long as we agree and it’s an insurable item under your policy like an engagement ring or your expensive laptop.

Some items, like an electric bike or electric scooter, are required to be specifed under the policy to be covered; that is, they won’t be covered at all if you have not listed them under the policy as a specified item. For more detail, refer to the PDS.

Here’s a reminder: whenever you upgrade or sell something that is covered on your policy, update your policy to reflect this. That way, your cover matches your needs and you won’t be over or under insured!

Explore Suncorp Personal Valuables Insurance

Damaging your phone screen when out and about

Especially annoying if you just bought the phone last week and only dropped it once!

If the damage happens outside of your insured address, it won’t be covered by a home contents insurance policy. But if you have chosen to add Personal Valuables cover to your policy and have specified your phone, it will be covered for replacement, repair or reimbursement (for loss or damage) up to the specified amount shown on your policy certificate in the event of an accepted claim.

Phones can be specified or unspecified on your policy, so the best option depends on the value of your phone. For more details, check the PDS.

Water damage to your phone, laptop or tablet

Imagine you’re sitting at a table working away on your laptop, and someone accidentally spills your latte all over your device, causing damage.

With Personal Valuables cover, there’s no need to worry! Your device is covered in the case of accidental liquid damage – and accidental damage in general.

In the case of newer or more expensive devices, it may offer more peace of mind to specify them under your policy. That way, if your $1,400 laptop is damaged, you can claim for up to the specified amount shown on the policy minus any excess, rather than leaving it unspecified and only being covered up to $1,000.

Accidental loss of your phone or device

If you’re ever in the position where you can’t find your phone after being out on the town, it may be covered thanks to Personal Valuables cover.

Your phone could disappear any number of ways:

• Leaving it in a rideshare.
• Dropping it out of your bag.
• Accidentally leaving it on a café table.

However it gets lost and isn’t returned, if you’ve got Personal Valuables cover and have added the phone to your policy as a specified item, you can make a claim for up to the specified amount shown on your policy. This cover isn’t just for your device either, it extends to other items as well! Check the PDS for details.

Damaged or stolen bicycle

Picture this: You just rode your bike along the river and parked it while you met a mate for a coffee. But once the coffee’s done, you return to find an empty space where your bike was locked.

There’s some good news if you have Personal Valuables cover, because your bike’s covered! Most sporting equipment is, except while it’s in use. So if you crack a helmet or break a bat while in the game, it won’t be covered.

Bikes are the exception here. We’ll cover non-wear and tear damage that occurs when in use, as long as it didn’t happen because of a race or pace-making. So if your bike is accidentally lost or damaged when you’re out and about, you could consider lodging a claim under your Personal Valuables optional cover.

Lost jewellery

If you have Personal Valuables cover, we’ll insure your jewellery if it’s lost or damaged anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. You don’t need to specify it either – with unspecified cover, it’s covered up to $1,000 per item, up to the total sum insured shown on your certificate of insurance.

Jewellery and watches are also covered when you go anywhere in the world for 30 consecutive days, as long as you’re wearing them or keeping them in a secure safe.

Consider Portable Advantages

If you’re after a bit more cover, you can add Portable Advantages as an optional extra to a Classic Advantages Contents Insurance policy. This will cover contents for loss or damage when they are temporarily removed from your insured address for up to 180 days in a row. It also extends overseas protection on jewellery and watches to 100 days, as long as they’re being worn by you or kept in a safe.

You also don’t need to specify items under Portable Advantages – as long as the claimed amount falls under your policy’s overall contents sum insured, you’ll be covered for up to its full value. Flexible limits still apply. See the PDS for more details.

Make a claim online

If one of these incidents – or something similar – happened to you, and you’ve added Personal Valuables or Portable Advantages cover as an option to your policy, you can easily start a claim today.

You can lodge a claim online or via the Suncorp Insurance App.

Make A Claim

Read more:

• How to create a home inventory for insurance
• What’s covered with mobile phone insurance?
• Insuring your beloved belongings away from home

Insurance is issued by AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807 trading as Suncorp Insurance. Limits and exclusions apply. Read the Product Disclosure Statement before buying this insurance. The Target Market Determination is also available. This advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situations or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it.