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ICNZ says almost 60 percent of Canterbury earthquake insurance dwelling claims have now been settled

ICNZ says almost 60 percent of Canterbury earthquake insurance dwelling claims have now been settled

Content supplied by the Insurance Council of NZ

Insurers involved in the Canterbury residential rebuild have settled almost 60% of all earthquake out of scope and over cap dwelling claims, according to the Insurance Council of New Zealand.

Figures from the Canterbury Earthquake’s Recovery Authority’s (CERA) latest quarterly survey confirm insurers had settled 51,799 of 87,705 over cap and out of scope dwelling claims at 31 March 2014.

The survey shows that 41,924 (64%) out of scope dwelling claims have been settled and 9,875 (44%) over cap claims finalised.

“Combined that’s 59% of all earthquake-related insurance dwelling claims completed which demonstrates real drive by private insurers and claims management companies to resolve earthquake-related claims in Canterbury,” says ICNZ Chief Executive Tim Grafton.

“At the end of April 2014 insurers had paid out $4.06 billion in residential earthquake-related claims, $555 million of that just in the last four months,” says Mr Grafton.

The total amount paid out for earthquake-related commercial claims now stands at $7.49 billion with $782 million of that paid out in 2014, including New Zealand’s largest insurance pay out of $438 million to the Port of Lyttelton.

“To date insurers have paid out $11.55 billion and this year alone it’s the equivalent of $10 million a day to settle earthquake commercial and residential claims in Canterbury during 2014,” says Mr Grafton.

The CERA survey shows that insurers had 22,455 over cap dwelling claims at the end of March 2014, indicating that a further 493 had become over cap during the first quarter of this year.  The previous quarter had 21,962 over cap dwellings.

Of the 22,455 over cap dwellings, 9,875 (44%) had been settled, 9,755 (43%) were pending settlement and 2,876 (13%) were still to be made an offer or the insured had not made a decision on their offer.

Insurers and the claims management companies had completed 1,681 major repairs and rebuilds and cash settled 8,194 claims by the end of March.

For claims outside the scope of EQC, which includes driveways, pathways and swimming pools, insurers and claims management companies had settled 41,924 of 65,250 claims by the end of March.

“Our members are still forecasting that the majority of the insurer-managed rebuild programme will be completed by the end of 2016, however there are a number of factors outside the control of insurers that could impact on this such as land repair, retaining walls, Port Hills Mass Movement Areas, multi units and customers decision delays,” says Mr Grafton.

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6 Comments

What bollocks!  The audacity of this man to claim that because they had settled 64% of paths and driveway claims (mostly in the low thousands) that they are well on track!

 

JUST 44% of overcap claims are settled after nearly FOUR years since the September earthquake.

 

This is outrageous and a disgrace, that well over half of claims are unresolved and this is considering that of under 10,000 settled, 7,000 odd properties were red zoned and would have had some resolution by now either with the owner or with the Crown.  How many non red zone overcap claims are settled - 25%, 30%???

 

How can an organisation be allowed to perpetrate such a dereliction of their responsibilities and then be so disingenuous as to release a statement such as this.

 

The media should have held them to account.  However you all (including interest.co.nz) are either too fatigued or lazy to pursue this...

 

Media action is required, as the individuals affected are unable to get traction on these issues themselves, as when one individual starts to complain (either publicly or through the courts) the insurers can easily pick them off and shut them down by settling, which still leaves the many thousands of others no better off.

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It would be best that you check your facts carefully Chris J. 

Insurers have settled 44% (8194) over cap claims and a further 43% (9755) are in resolution, or what CERA refers to as 'pending settlement'.  That means the insured has accepted the offer and they're currently being repaired/rebuilt or are in an insurer-managed rebuild queue. As you know, a major repair/rebuild can take 12 months to complete. The rebuilds/repairs completed in the quarter to March 2014 started early 2013.

That's 87% of over cap claims that have been finalised or agreed by both parties and awaiting settlement.

There's a further 7% (1508) where the insurer has been made a settlement offer but the insured has not made a decision, mostly because they're awaiting land settlement offers before deciding whether to accept an offer. That leaves 6% (1368) who have not yet been made an offer.

As you will be aware, insurers could not start their rebuild programme 4 years ago, there were many complex matters at play but at the risk of oversimpllfying it, claims do not become over cap until EQC have completed their assessments and transferred it to insurers.

 

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I suspect most of the people who actually have unresolved overcap claims (like myself) would disagree with what settlement pending means...

 

Agreement that a house is a rebuild does not mean that there has been any significant progress towards that rebuild ie no approval of plans, consents or builder.

 

I still have unresolved overcap claims that IAG have not made offers on while IAG still lumber through their entirely inadequate processes.

 

I would be interested to know the position that you hold which gives you the all seeing wisdom and perception that all is going swimmingly?

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As the Communications Manager for the Insurance Council, I am aware of the rebuild statistics collected by CERA.  If you have not been made an offer, then your claim will be in the No Offer category which has1368 (6%) of over cap dwelling claims. I hope that explains where your claim will be registering in the CERA survey.

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COMPLICATED.... the actions (or rather inactions) the insurance companies are absolutely outrageous.

The claims were all (or very close to all) genuine and not at all complicated Samson.

Don't know if you noticed the earthquakes?? Causing valid insurance claims ???

I assume that it's OK for me to pay my 60% of insurance premium for last year in 2017 sometime? my situation is also complicated - if by complicated you mean "I want to go on a big holiday and want you to pay for my yacht".

Your license to operate in NZ should be revoked, 99% of the claims should have been paid out within 6 months and then the actual freaking rebuild could have happened. We are not asking for anything you are not contractually obligated to provide, on account of you already taking the money for it..

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Complex, this justification is only used by the incompetent or to obsfucate.

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