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Speaker 1: Another big insurance bill is looming this from the latest

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Speaker 1: weather related disasters, the landslide of Mount Muntanui, the flooding

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Speaker 1: damage North and Corimandal Gisbon. The claims will be rolling in,

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Speaker 1: So let's go to Karen Stevens the insurance and Financial

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Speaker 1: Services on Bodsman Good Evening.

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Speaker 2: Karen Good Evening.

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Speaker 1: Ryan, what's your advice for people making claims at the moment?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think everybody understands that with a significant weather

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Speaker 2: event there are going to be more delays than if

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Speaker 2: it's just business as usual. So what the IFS scheme

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Speaker 2: suggests is that you make online claims rather than telephoning

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Speaker 2: the insurer, because we all know when people are trying

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Speaker 2: to telephone at the same time that the lines get

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Speaker 2: clogged and so that that increases frustration. I think because

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Speaker 2: a lot of people are going to be really upset

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Speaker 2: about what's happened. You know, they might have really precious

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Speaker 2: things that have got destroyed, their houses may have gone.

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Speaker 2: You know that the scale of this again is going

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Speaker 2: to be extreme, just as it was in the Auckland

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Speaker 2: floods and Cyclone Gabrielle. So I think learning from that

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Speaker 2: it's make an online claim if you're in a position

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Speaker 2: to do so, and particularly you know, try and save

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Speaker 2: everything that you can and take really good photos, keep

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Speaker 2: records so that when it comes time to making a claim,

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Speaker 2: you've got all of that information at your fingertips and

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Speaker 2: it's not an insurmountable problem because you don't need anything

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Speaker 2: else to have to deal with at this stage.

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Speaker 1: Karen, what are the when it comes to claims that

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Speaker 1: are rejected or aren't covered. What is legitimate what's not

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Speaker 1: legitimate when it comes to weather, well.

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Speaker 2: In terms of you know, claims that are declined, sometimes

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Speaker 2: it's simply because people don't have proof of what they're

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Speaker 2: claiming for. So that's why it's so important to take photos.

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Speaker 2: For example, say I've had a flood through my house

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Speaker 2: and and I've said, you know, the carpet has all gone,

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Speaker 2: you know, there was stuff on the floor, you know,

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Speaker 2: all of that has been lost. But in addition to that,

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Speaker 2: I'm claiming for pictures that were high on the wall

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Speaker 2: or a television that was high on the wall. That's

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Speaker 2: immediately going to sort of make an insurance say, well,

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Speaker 2: can you show us where the water came up to?

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Speaker 2: For example, And in some cases it absolutely would have

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Speaker 2: gone up to the television. But in other cases the

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Speaker 2: n SURE was going to say the water didn't go

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Speaker 2: that fast, so the TV can't have been damaged in

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Speaker 2: the flood. So that I think is a really important

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Speaker 2: thing for people to remember. They're only claiming for what's

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Speaker 2: been damaged in the weather event, not other stuff.

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Speaker 1: So first thing when you walk back into your house,

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Speaker 1: of course it'll be an emotional time, but get your

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Speaker 1: camera out and start taking photos.

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Speaker 2: That's right, Ryan. You know, it's so important for people

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Speaker 2: to keep those records. You know, we had one case

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Speaker 2: out of cyclone Gabriel to the ifso scheme where a

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Speaker 2: woman had claimed for a whole lot of stuff and

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Speaker 2: when there was a few questions raised by the insurer

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Speaker 2: and an investigation was done, they found that she put

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Speaker 2: a lot of stuff into a storage unit and so

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Speaker 2: things that she was actually claiming for were not damaged.

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Speaker 2: They'd just been moved. So that's why, you know, you

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Speaker 2: don't want to go through a trauma like this or

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Speaker 2: whether event and have such you know, terrible things happen

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Speaker 2: and then find that when you go to make it

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Speaker 2: claim that there is a problem with it. So you know,

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Speaker 2: the IFSO scheme sees a lot of complaints arising out

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Speaker 2: of declined claims. There are only really the tip of

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Speaker 2: the iceberg, because most insurers most of the time will

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Speaker 2: pay most claims.

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Speaker 3: What's there in some cases, Sorry you keep saying if SCO.

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Speaker 3: What's f SCOF if SO is the insurance and financial

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Speaker 3: services onwardsman scheme of which I am the onwardsman. So

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Speaker 3: that is the the scheme that provides a free services

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Speaker 3: to consumers if they have complaints about their insurers. Gotcha,

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Speaker 3: So this is what we do, and so we will

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Speaker 3: get a lot of complaints I'm sure coming in at

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Speaker 3: some stage, but not in the in the early days.

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Speaker 3: It's now all going to be about making claims and

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Speaker 3: getting them through the system. And bearing in mind that

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Speaker 3: we see a very very small number of claims turning

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Speaker 3: into complaints. And why I would.

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Speaker 2: Like to talk to you and talk to consumers about

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Speaker 2: it at this stage is that they can actually prevent

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Speaker 2: those claims from being declined if they get all that

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Speaker 2: right information into the insurer to start with.

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Speaker 1: No good to know, good advice. Just finally, the premium situation.

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Speaker 1: I don't know whether this is even within your purview

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Speaker 1: but do we expect that premiums go up after a

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Speaker 1: big event like this.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's unfortunate, but ordinarily, you know, the more events

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Speaker 2: there are around the world, and it's not just New Zealand,

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Speaker 2: it's climate change everywhere, weather events, it's all of these

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Speaker 2: major things put pressure on the reinsurers to actually put

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Speaker 2: the insurance up so the insurers can offer insurance. So

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Speaker 2: there's usually a flow on effect. I don't think anybody

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Speaker 2: can can look into a crystal ball and say there's

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Speaker 2: definitely going to be a premium rise, but it's normally

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Speaker 2: the result of increased claims will flow on to reinsurers

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Speaker 2: actually increasing the amount that it costs to ensure everything. Basically, Karen,

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Speaker 2: appreciate one thing, Ryan before I go, Can I just

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Speaker 2: suggest that if anybody has problems at the moment in

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Speaker 2: terms of accommodation, under some policies, not all policies, but

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Speaker 2: under some policies, they can get a temporary accommodation allowance.

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Speaker 2: So it's worth asking the insurers about it so that

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Speaker 2: if they need it, they can get it.

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Speaker 1: Great stuff, Karen, Thank you. Karen Stevens Insurance and Financial

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Speaker 1: Services on Boodsman appreciate your time Tonight. For more from

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Speaker 1: Heather to Dooplassy Allen Drive, listen live to News Talk

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