Insurance ‘settled by end of year’
Most of the nearly 40,000 residential insurance claims stemming from November’s Kaikoura earthquake should be settled by the end of the year, the Insurance Council says.
Council chief executive Tim Grafton said it was expected about 90 per cent of all residential claims would be under the $100,000 Earthquake Commission (EQC) cap and those would be cash-settled by insurers on behalf of EQC.
Most claims (71 per cent) were for building damage only, with 10 per cent for building and contents, 10 per cent for land damage and 9 per cent for contents only.
Christchurch, Wellington, North Canterbury and Marlborough had the highest number of claims.
‘‘We expect the final number of claims to be close to 38,000, so there is a significant challenge in terms of assessment,’’ Grafton said.
Settlements were being made progressively all the time, so they did not come all at once, he said.
Timeframes were broad because insurers would need to communicate with customers directly about their individual situation.
Repairs would be done progressively as people were cashsettled.
Grafton did not anticipate tradespeople turning down repair work in the Wellington region.
‘‘If anything, if there is plenty of work it will likely attract tradespeople from elsewhere, as occurred in Christchurch.’’
The magnitude-7.8 Kaikoura earthquake on November 14 was not only the most complex of its type, but triggered one of the most expensive insured events anywhere in the world in 2016.
Grafton said it was important to understand what insurance did, and did not do.
‘‘Once settlement has been made, the homeowner is responsible for managing repairs, so the timeframe they choose to repair will be over to them, and as they are mainly under cap in Wellington the damage is relatively light for the most part.’’
Melanie Bourke, organiser of advocacy group EQC Fix, was sceptical that claims would be mostly settled this year.
‘‘I don’t believe it’s achievable, and the reason I don’t is I’m already getting emails now from people, homeowners, that reflect similar experiences of the assessment process of what we experienced in Canterbury.’’
Bourke was concerned insurers were not paying enough attention to land damage and the repercussions that would have for foundation repair.
‘‘What the insurance industry is going to find is an almost repeat pattern of what we saw in Christchurch.
‘‘They’ll get some across the line, but whether those are across the line as thoroughly assessed, fully settled in accordance with the insurance policy, that’s going to be the big question mark.’’
Insurers acting as agents for EQC ‘‘has the potential to expedite the process’’, Bourke said, as long as they were assessing to the right standards and had the right training and advice.