The General Insurance Code of Practice is a voluntary industry code that sets service standards for insurers offering home, motor, travel, and other general insurance products, focusing on customer service and claims handling.
The General Insurance Code of Practice is a self-regulatory code developed by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA). Member insurers commit to follow it. The Code was last updated in 2020 and applies to home, motor, travel, and similar general insurance products.
The Code sets service standards, not coverage standards. It does not determine whether a claim should be paid, only how the process should be handled.
After a major storm, an insurer was found to have breached Code timeframes by not assessing claims within required periods; the Code Governance Committee required them to hire additional assessors and compensate affected customers
A customer experiencing family violence was able to update their home insurance address without providing police reports, consistent with Code requirements for supporting vulnerable customers
An insurer breached the Code by sending claim denial letters that didn't clearly explain the reasons; they were required to rewrite their template letters in plain English
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