Business Insurance Claim

Business Insurance Claims

What should I do if I need to make a business insurance claim?

  • Take reasonable precautions to prevent further loss, damage or liability.
  • Notify the police if necessary as soon as reasonably possible.
  • Make sure you have your policy number and details of what has happened.
  • Call one of our friendly consultants on 131 846 who will assist you with the claims process.
  • If we believe that it is necessary for your claim to be assessed we will appoint one of our preferred Loss Adjusters, who will be in ‎contact as soon as reasonably possible to arrange a convenient time to visit you.
  • If you're making a Commercial Vehicle claim, you can choose your repairer. For more information about choice of repairer, refer to your PDS for full details. See our Repairer locator for details of available repairers.
  • For more information, please review the claims procedure in your PDS.

What should I do if I need to make a liability claim?

  • Call one of our friendly consultants on (02) 8988 9969 Monday to Friday - 8.30am to 5pm who will assist you with the claims process.

Notifying TIO of a Claim

Phone
Call 131 846 and one of our friendly consultants will assist you with the claims process

For emergency after hours support please call 131 846 and follow the prompts.
Claim forms
We have a range of insurance claim forms that can be downloaded and sent to TIO
Lodging your claim form

Email: tiocommercialclaims@tiofi.com.au

Post:
GPO Box 770, Darwin NT 0801

Claim forms

For your convenience, please find below a range of business insurance claim forms.

If you are unable to locate a claim form related to your policy please contact one of our consultants.

Steps to submit

  • Complete or print out the relevant claim form required
  • Make sure you have provided all of your contact details
  • Email or post the claim form to TIO.

Complaints - helping solve any problems

We strive to do things the right way and keep our customers happy. In the event you are dissatisfied with our product or services, we aim to resolve any issues as quickly as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

One of our consultants will discuss this with you when they receive your claim or when you call to make your claim.
Documents such as purchase receipts, credit card statements and owner's handbooks will help.

When you speak to a consultant, they'll let you know what you need to provide to help us process your claim.
Call our claims department on 131 846 and one of our friendly consultants will take you through the claims process.

Business Interruption Insurance

We thank our business customers for their patience during the Business Interruption (BI) test case process. The BI test cases sought to provide clarity in relation to the application of policy wordings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The BI test case process has now been completed and we’re able to implement the decision of the Courts now that the final judgment has been received. Read more about the BI test case process.

Lodging a Business Interruption claim

Learn more about making a claim or give our claims team a call on 131 846. If you have a broker, contact them for more information.

Once you’ve lodged a claim, we’ll review each claim subject to the terms of your BI Insurance cover. Before your claim can be paid, you must be able to demonstrate a loss that’s covered by the policy. We may also need you to provide evidence to support your claim. We’ll tell you the type of information we need. Once we’ve assessed your claim, we’ll let you know the outcome.

We’re committed to supporting our customers through the claims process and assessing claims as soon as possible.

Questions to consider when making a claim

If you believe your circumstances entitle you to claim under your BI cover, then you should consider lodging a claim.

Give our claims team a call on 131 846. If you have a broker, contact them for more information.

If your business was affected by a COVID-19 case or outbreak, it may have disrupted your business in a number of ways. These can include the following:

  • A confirmed case of COVID-19 at the insured premises that interferes, interrupts, or requires the business to close.
  • A closure because of a known COVID-19 case within the vicinity limit (as detailed in the PDS, e.g. 20km) of the premises.
  • A closure because of a confirmed COVID-19 outbreak in the vicinity of your business.

In all these instances, we’ll need you to provide evidence. This can include:

  • Health authority advice.
  • Emergency professional cleaning invoices.

If the confirmed COVID-19 case wasn’t at your premises, you’ll need to be able to identify where it was in relation to your business. Please note, as per the judgment in the second BI test cases (including the appeal to the Full Court of the Federal Court) a confirmed COVID-19 case within the vicinity limit may not trigger the insuring clause.

Examples of some of the types of businesses that were mandated for closure or partial closure include pubs, licensed clubs, gyms, indoor sporting venues and beauticians.

Your business may have had to change its trading hours. Or, you might have modified the business to allow you to trade under COVID-19, e.g. operating as a window-only or takeaway-only business.

Whatever changes were made, we’ll need your previous 12 months sales data prior to the date of loss, as well as sales data during the loss period.

Once we’ve reviewed your claim, and we’ve agreed that you have an eligible claim, we may ask you to provide the following financial information:

  • Quarterly business activity statements.
  • Monthly or annual profit and loss statements.
  • Monthly payroll summary reports by employee.
  • Supporting invoices for increased or additional costs incurred to mitigate loss or maintain business operations.
  • Evidence of any government benefits your business has received, e.g. JobKeeper.
  • Details of all rental relief provided by your landlord.

Where we need additional information in support of your claim, we’ll let you know as soon as we’ve reviewed your claim.

We’ll make sure that we manage your claim as quickly as we can in order to finalise claims as soon as possible. If you have a broker, contact them for further information regarding your claim or your BI policy or both.

Further background


On 14 October 2022, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) concluded its series of court ‘test cases’ to clarify the circumstances that would trigger a claim to be paid under BI cover due to COVID-19. In summary:

The first BI test case took place in June 2021. The NSW Court of Appeal found insurers couldn’t rely on pandemic exclusions contained in BI coverage that reference the repealed Quarantine Act 1908 (Cth).

The second BI test case judgment was delivered by the Full Court of the Federal Court on 21 February 2022. The High Court refused to grant the special leave application for the second BI test case on 14 October 2022. The second BI test case process has now concluded. This has now provided clarity on a number of policy issues such as:

  • How the definitions of infectious disease are to be interpreted in policy wordings.
  • What constitutes a COVID-19 outbreak.
  • How the proximity requirement is to be interpreted.
  • The impact of government orders and other mandates.
  • Other policy wording matters.

This means that in the factual circumstances set out in test cases, the relevant insuring clauses won’t be triggered. This means there may be no cover under the policy for these types of claims.

We appreciate your patience while these matters have been resolved. Clear guidance and agreement by the courts has been essential in determining how we interpret and apply the relevant policy wordings to BI claims. The High Court ruling and conclusion of the test case process means that claims will ultimately be determined based on the applicable principles of the final judgment of the Full Court of the Federal Court in this test case and that of the first test case, as well as the terms of the particular BI policy of the policyholder.

For more information regarding the BI test cases, visit the Insurance Council of Australia website.

We understand the unique conditions faced in the Territory

TIO is based in Darwin and our strength lies in our solid understanding of the conditions faced within the Territory year after year.

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