Cover continues for quake zone

Auckland – 21 January 2014 – AA Insurance has received a handful of claims for damage to home and contents following yesterday’s earthquakes and expects a small number to be made over the coming weeks. At this stage, AA Insurance has decided not to put an exclusion zone in place for insurance in the areas affected by yesterday’s earthquakes.

After the Canterbury and last year’s Wellington quakes, AA Insurance and several other companies put exclusion zones in place that meant new policies were not available in the areas affected.

“If you suffered damage in yesterday’s quakes, you must make a claim with the EQC within three months of the damage occurring. There is no deadline to make a claim with AA Insurance, but the sooner you let us know, the sooner we can help you,” said Suzanne Wolton, Head of Customer Affairs, AA Insurance. “Our team handling these claims is experienced and can give our customers the help they need to get things sorted quickly.

“Once a disaster has happened it may be too late to buy or update your insurance, if an exclusion zone is put in place. Luckily yesterday’s quakes don’t seem to have resulted in extensive damage for many people, but this is a timely reminder to check that your contents and home sum insured are adequate should the worst happen,” added Suzanne.

AA Insurance expects that the majority of claims following yesterday’s earthquakes will be covered within the EQC cap of $115,000 for homes and $22,500 for contents.

AA Insurance’s earthquake advice for customers:
Keep your damaged contents if you can, or take photos – this is useful to confirm what needs replacing
Call us or the EQC as soon as possible to report any damage to your property especially if you need emergency repairs
Make a claim with EQC within three months of the damage occurring
Secure your contents as much as you can, included tethering tall furniture, placing heavy objects lower on shelves, and closing hooks on picture and mirror frames – see www.eqc.govt.nz for more ways to quake safe your home
Get prepared – the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management’s website getthru.govt.nz provides detailed advice on what to do before, during and after an earthquake.

ENDS

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