Wear and tear is damage to an item that is caused over time through use. For example, every time you drive your car the tread on your tyres slowly wears down. Wear and tear is usually not covered by insurance policies or warranties.
Why isn’t wear and tear covered by insurance?
Insurance protects you from low-likelihood losses. For losses that you know will occur, savings products are there to help you prepare. When you use, say, your cell phone and it gets older, you know it will experience wear and tear (these days it’s rare for a phone to last more than two years). You might set up a savings account to be able to replace your phone in two years. To protect yourself from the unknowns, like your phone being stolen tomorrow, insurance can protect you. Separating savings and insurance products in this way makes premiums affordable and keeps insurance true to its purpose.
What are other common insurance exclusions?
Exclusions differ from insurer to insurer and from product to product but as a general rule insurers only cover things that are sudden and unforeseen.
