With QBE’s joining becoming official by July 3, customers under the brand now have a simplified EQCover claim process. This means that homeowners only need to lodge one claim through their private insurer if they experience damage to their homes after a natural disaster.
In a news release, Toka Tū Ake EQC chief executive Tina Mitchell said that having a single point of contact to manage insurance claims after an event is a huge plus for customers, and this was a change brought about by the effects of the Canterbury earthquakes.
“We’re delighted to welcome QBE to our claims model partnership. This means we are now partnering with nine insurers to provide insured homeowners with a streamlined process for accessing all of their residential insurance in one place following a natural disaster,” Mitchell said.
Under the EQCover claims scheme, a private insurer will assess, manage, and settle the entire claim, both for EQCover and any additional losses. This singular process is a great convenience, especially to homeowners in mixed-use buildings like apartments, as residential insurance claims here are trickier due to many parties involved.
“We saw this complexity unfold in Canterbury, so our partnership model makes things easier in two ways. First there is the single point of contact for homeowners making a claim, and secondly a single insurer can sometimes be appointed to coordinate claims if there is shared damage between neighbours,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell also said that the model can adapt to the situation at hand, and having one insurer coordinating across several units is more efficient, especially when capacity or specialist resources are stretched after an event. QBE, the firm’s latest partner, represents more than 95% of insured New Zealand homeowners.
Since its launch on June 30, 2021, more than 14,300 EQCover claims have been lodged with private insurers to manage the entire claims process. The partnership model works closely with the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ), as well as more than 20 of its representative insurance brands, including: AA Insurance, Chubb, FMG, Ando (Hollard), IAG, MAS, Vero, Tower, and now QBE.
Elsewhere for QBE, the insurance group has raised its premium growth outlook for 2023, based on the global insurer’s performance in the first quarter.
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