In November 2015, the insured’s broker arranged commercial vehicle insurance with the insurer.
In March 2016, the insured made a claim to the insurer, because he had damaged his commercial mower by mowing over a log when he was mowing a paddock.
The repairs to the mower were about $17,000.
The insurer accepted the claim, subject to a policy limit of $10,000 for ingestion of a foreign object.
The broker argued that the policy wording was unclear. He also believed that the insurer had not made him aware of the limit when he arranged the cover.
The case manager's assessment
The case manager considered the policy wording and believed it was clear that a limit applied for ingestion or entanglement of a foreign object.
Because the log was caught in the mower and caused internal damage, the case manager believed the damage was caused by ingestion of a foreign object and the limit applied to the claim.
When he arranged the cover, the broker asked about “entanglement cover” and the insurer provided the policy limit in a document.
The case manager believed that the insurer had provided sufficient information to make the broker aware of the limit and, as he had not asked to increase the limit, the insurer was entitled to restrict payment of the claim to the policy limit of $10,000, less the excess.
Complaint not upheld.
