Youi has won a dispute over a hail damage claim for a property in Queensland.

Homeowners in Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland lodged the claim early last year, saying a hailstorm at the end of 2022 dented their roof.

But Youi said the damage was caused five months before they bought the home and policy in 2020, and denied the claim.

Beerwah was struck by hail in late 2019. Three years later there was another hail event about 100km away.

The homeowners gave the Australian Financial Complaints Authority a video showing hail falling about 15km from their property during the latter hailstorm, and said it also struck Beerwah.

But AFCA says the homeowners have failed to show their property was damaged after they bought the policy.

“The insurer has not proven that the hail dents occurred before the complainants bought the policy,” its dispute ruling says. “However, there is no persuasive evidence that the hail dents occurred after the complainants bought the policy.

“Therefore, the complainants have not established a claimable loss, and the insurer is entitled to deny the claim.”

About a week after the 2022 hailstorm, solar panels were installed on the roof. A builder who inspected the roof two months later said almost every roof sheet had hail damage and should be replaced. Photos showed the builder had revealed the dents by rubbing chalk on them. None were clearly visible without chalk. 

The homeowners provided a pre-purchase inspection report from April 2020 that did not record any hail dents, and photos of a smooth roof.

But AFCA says the dents later discovered by the builder were not visible without chalk.

“They may have been present in 2020 without being noticed by the [pre-purchase] inspector or visible in photos.”

Contractors who installed the solar panels after the 2022 hailstorm did not report any hail dents.

“This indicates the dents were not obvious. This is consistent with the possibility that the dents were present during the pre-purchase inspection but not noticed by the inspector,” AFCA says.

A Youi-appointed builder who inspected the property a month after the claim said the damage was consistent with the hail in December 2022, but AFCA says none of the expert reports demonstrated when the damage occurred.

“The insurer’s builder’s report ... did not say whether [the damage] was also consistent with earlier hail.”

 See the ruling here.

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