As of 9 am Thursday, the NZ insurer had already received around 2,300 claims, with the number still expected to rise sharply in the coming days. AMI, State and NZI are expecting the rise to occur once customers are finally able to return to their homes to assess the damages, especially for those who have been evacuated.
Most of the claims received from Gabrielle’s rampage come from the Auckland, Northland, Waikato, and the Bay of Plenty areas. The NZ insurer also noted that it expects to see small numbers from the Hawkes Bay and Gisborne areas as people are either evacuated, isolated, or have minimal access to communications.
It’s worth noting that these 2,300 claims are separate from the 21,000+ received by AMI, State and NZI for the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods, another major weather event that happened in late January.
“The devastation that Cyclone Gabrielle has caused across the North Island is incredibly distressing, and our thoughts are with all our fellow New Zealanders,” said Amanda Whiting, AMI, State, and NZI CEO. “As the country’s largest general insurer, we are now stepping up a significant event response for our customers.”
This event response includes rapidly adding personnel from across New Zealand and Australia to support the AMI, State, and NZI claims teams, as well as increasing call centre lines and hours, plus bringing on additional partners and suppliers to accelerate work when it is safe and practical to do.
Whiting also noted that the NZ insurer is proactively reaching out to all of their customers through all the means available to them, including print, radio, social media, email, brokers, news outlets, and various other digital formats. Once safe, she also said that they will be on the ground in affected communities to better reach the insureds.
“We are working at pace so people can have the reassurance and information they need from their insurer,” Whiting said. “We are absolutely committed to supporting our customers through this. This is what insurance is for - and we will remain committed until every last claim is closed.”
AMI, State, and NZI also asks customers outside of Cyclone Gabrielle-affected areas to hold off on lodging complaints unless they are urgent in order to help the insurer prioritize their efforts to help those affected by the flood and cyclone damages.
