Blog Question – Is damage by meteorites covered?

I have received a large number of email and phone enquiries as to whether damage by meteorites as has occurred in Russia would be covered.

The good news is that the impact damage from such an object is a standard cover under the vast majority of policies in Australia. I in fact no of none that exclude it.

Beside the impact damage, there was damage caused by the passing of the object which I assume was caused by sonic shock waves. This is not a standard cover under Australian policies with some companies covering the damage and others excluding such damage. From my understanding sonic boom was introduced as a standard exclusion following the development of supersonic aircraft in the mid 20th century.

When it comes to business insurance, an ISR would cover both the impact damage and damage by sonic waves, as would most policies covering accidental damage although most fire and perils policies and some Accidental Damage covers exclude sonic boom.

As with most triggers for business interruption, their needs to be damage to insured property caused by an insured peril for a claim to be considered.

As with everything in insurance there is rarely a cast iron rule and it is always best to check the actual policy wording. Having said this, www.policycomparison.com is a great place to start.