Flood claims top 13,600 and rising
The country’s largest insurer IAG says it has received more 7200 claims as a result of the storms that deluged Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Waitomo with torrential rain.
The insurer, which owns the AMI, State and NZI Insurance brands, had received 7226 claims, half of which are for damage to homes, and the other half for contents, vehicles and businesses. ‘‘We expect that number to continue to rise as customers are able to assess damage, and as the heavy rain continues and further regions are impacted,’’ said IAG chief executive Amanda Whiting.
Together with the claims lodged with the second and third-largest insurers, total claims so far after the floods have now passed the 13,600. ‘‘This weather event is unlike anything we have seen before and the loss of life and livelihoods, devastating,’’ Whiting said.
‘‘I’ve witnessed the devastation first-hand here in Auckland, and it’s been a very traumatic experience for those who have literally lost everything.’’
Suncorp, the country’s secondlargest insurer, had received about 4500 claims, and the number continued to rise.
Tower, the country’s thirdlargest insurer, had received 1900 claims at 4pm on Monday.
About 1000 were house claims and the remainder motor and contents claims.
More wet weather was on its way yesterday with red rain warnings issued for Northland, parts of Auckland and Coromandel.
IAG said in a statement to the
Australian Securities Exchange on Monday that it was too early to determine the financial impact of the flood, however, the scale of the claims it was receiving meant it might have to review its estimate for natural perils for the year.
The floods have delayed the release of the annual Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kā hui of Inihua o Aotearoa data release on the total cost of weather-related claims.
Each year, the council releases figures on the number and cost of major weather-related claims.
It’s not yet clear what the floods will mean for house, content and car insurance premiums rises, but a survey by Consumer NZ late last year showed growing concern among homeowners.
Consumer NZ’s insurance provider satisfaction survey showed half of people with house insurance were worried about the rising cost of their cover.
‘‘Alarmingly, 7% of people without house insurance either cancelled or didn’t renew their policy because of cost. For those without contents insurance, 17% didn’t renew their policy for that same reason,’’ Consumer NZ said.