NZ insurers face $66 million in Westport flood home, motor claims

Insurers have fully settled or nearly completed 85% of home claims from last July’s floods in Westport, South Island, according to an update today from the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ).

ICNZ says it estimates the cost of damage to flood-affected Westport properties for home insurance claims will be about $NZ55.6 million ($51.7 million).

In relation to home contents claims, around 85% have been fully settled with $NZ13.5 million ($12.5 million) paid out so far by insurers.

For motor claims, 97% are fully settled with the industry paying $NZ1.74 million ($1.6 million) to date.

Based on today’s update, home and motor claims from the Westport floods have cost the industry $NZ70.8 million ($65.9 million) so far.

Around 65% of home insurance claims were fully settled by the end of January, another 20% had their repairs underway or are nearly finished with it and another 5% have had the scope of repairs approved by homeowners, with work scheduled to start soon.

ICNZ says 5% of the claims are in resolution with insurer and a similar portion are awaiting for the homeowner’s decision.

ICNZ says the community and contractors have faced many challenges in the recovery process including a shortage of temporary accommodation, a shortage of building materials, pandemic lockdowns and multiple weather events.

“Insurers have been securing available contractor resources from around the South Island for customers to complete the recovery as quickly as possible,” ICNZ CEO Tim Grafton said.

“Given the circumstances, we are pleased with the progress being made in Westport and expect the remaining homes will be completed over the coming months.”

ICNZ says when managing the order of repairs on behalf of customers, insurers prioritised the most vulnerable within the community who had suffered the most severe damage.

About half of homeowners have chosen a cash settlement so that they could pick their own contractors and approach to repairs, ICNZ said.

“Many homeowners will be going at their own pace with some choosing to do additional resilience work at the same time,” it said.

“These sorts of decisions often require consents or design work which is outside the scope of the insurance settlement which only covers costs for the flood damage from the event.”