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Insurance brokers assist clients with claims from Melbourne and Perth storms and Queensland floods

Insurance brokers have been kept busy around Australia as tens of thousands of claims pour in from homes and businesses damaged by hail, fallen trees and flooding.

Emilie Webster, NIBA’s representative on the Insurance Taskforce set up to co-ordinate the industry’s response to the catastrophes, says the industry response has been good so far and brokers haven’t reported any major difficulties.

“From the Insurance Taskforce teleconference held for the Melbourne Severe Storms, it was noted that the telephone hotline had served its purpose and a high level of calls had been received,” Ms Webster said.

“Approximately 50% of the calls were coming from people who hadn’t lodged a claim and the other 50% were coming from people who had lodged claims and had high expectations of repair work being carried out in 24 hours

“The latest update received on the 25 March indicates that there are no obvious industry issues.”

The latest figures from the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) show:

  • 105,000 claims from the storm in Melbourne on 6 March, with an estimated insurance loss of $880 million
  • 42,500 claims from the storm in Perth on 22 March, with an estimated insurance loss of $203 million
  • 7500 claims from the floods in south-west Queensland, with an estimated insurance loss of $120 million

Peter Grant, Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Insurance Brokers, is based in Cheltenham in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs where the storm was at its most destructive.

“We have about 10,000 customers, mostly Victorians, and this is certainly the biggest single weather event that we have had to deal with,” Mr Grant said.

“The worst damage we have seen is branches on roofs that then cause water damage inside the house.

“We have been very busy but the main area of congestion has been with suppliers – glaziers in particular have been run off their feet.

“I have to say the customers themselves have been noticeably much more tolerant than usual of the circumstances and delays caused by the volume of claims coming through.

“I think the insurers have been coping pretty well in the circumstances. For minor damage like broken windows they are amending the claims process, taking claims over the phone and saying: ‘Let’s just get the work done.’

“There has been a lot of that run-of-the-mill stuff like windows, roof and skylight damage. We have been inundated with claims relating to garage doors.”

Gordon Rowlings from MGA Insurance brokers in Roma, had clients that were impacted by the floods of early March.

“In Roma, we aren’t on the river so it wasn’t so much a water rising event. A lot of the damage was confined to fast flowing water damage that came and went pretty quickly,” Mr Rowlings said.

“There has been a lot of slimy water damage up to about a foot or two into some places. That’s still pretty devastating inside a home.

“To give you an idea of how fast the water was moving, I heard of one instance where a large, very heavy tool box was just washed away without a trace from out of a back shed.”

The industry has been spared from another massive loss event by Cyclone Ului, which was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit the North Queensland coast. Damage was mainly limited to boats.



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