New Zealand insurers have paid out a total of $395.3 million in claims related to the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, according to the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ). The total number of claims now stands at 96,586, worth a total of $2.47 billion. The paid-out figure represents 14,154 processed claims, which is roughly 15% of the total.
To put the financials into perspective, the two disasters combined now surpass the 45,000 claims made for the Kaikoura earthquake, which were worth $2.27 billion. The ICNZ also said that the total worth of claims for Gabrielle and the North Island floods are worth more than 80% of general insurance claims paid out across New Zealand in 2022.
In a news release from the ICNZ, chief executive Tim Grafton said that while insurers have made a good start on settling claims, it’s vital to “remain realistic about the rate of settlement from now on.”
“Many motor and contents claims are straightforward to settle, re-lining house can take months, full rebuilds over a year. The most complex claims, typically with land issues, can take longer still. Insurers are in this for the long haul,” he said.
The ICNZ said that 7,305 claims out of the more than 50,000 made for the Auckland flood have been fully settled with payouts totalling just over $248 million. The event will cost insurers a total of $1.317 billion.
As for Cyclone Gabrielle, 6,819 claims out of the almost 45,000 have been settled for over $147 million. The event’s price tag sits at an estimated $1.155 billion, a figure that’s close to insurance data pointing to industry losses stemming from Gabrielle.
Grafton said that insurers are focusing on more significant, complex, and expensive claims which take longer to settle.
“There is typically a small proportion of high value claims that require a lot of work to settle. These can be complex and time consuming to deal with and it’s important to be transparent with everybody about that. Insurers are in this for the long haul and will stand by their customers until the job is done,” he said.
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