A woman who lodged a claim with RAC Insurance to recoup the cost of repairing her air conditioner has lost a dispute hinging on whether a hail storm or mice caused it to stop working.

The air-conditioner failed after a hail storm in April 2019. The woman said the damage was due to an electrical issue caused by the storm.

RAC’s assessor determined that a mouse was the cause of the damage and the insurer declined the claim, saying her policy made clear it excluded cover for “any loss, damage or liability caused directly or indirectly by vermin or insects”.

The woman disputed this, saying the air conditioner repairer saw a dead mouse and decided it caused the damage without inspecting the unit.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) ruled she had not shown a valid claim and RAC was entitled to deny it.

“The available information does not show the damage was caused by a storm,” AFCA said.

The woman provided two air-conditioning expert reports and invoices for repairs. Both expert reports mentioned electrical faults but did not say what the cause was.

One said there was a dead mouse in the power module and did not say there was any damage caused by a storm. Another detected a fault due to unknown cause, possible high voltage, and said “there is no sign of damage to the unit”.

“Neither report identifies any storm damage to the air-conditioner unit,” AFCA said.

“The insurer’s assessor says the damage was not caused by a storm. Accordingly, the insurer is entitled to deny the claim.”

See the full ruling here.