2023 Climate Disaster Payouts Top $2 Billion

Insurers have so far paid out $2.053 bn of a newly updated estimate of the cost of general insurance claims for the twin climate disasters of the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle of $3.5bn across 112,812 claims.

"Good progress continues to be made on settling claims, especially when compared to prior large-scale disasters, said Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) Chief Executive, Tim Grafton. "But there is much more to be done and insurers will stand by customers until the last claim is settled."

The estimated value of claims for the two events in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland has now passed $2 bn ($2.017 bn). In Hawke’s Bay, Cyclone Gabrielle claims have passed $1bn ($1.066 bn).

The $2.053 bn paid out to 1 September covers around 64% of claims by volume and around 59% by value. Settlements have proceeded as expected across the different lines of insurance. By value, around 96%, $211.6m, of motor claims have been paid plus 84%, $216.3m, of those for contents. Business claims are more complex to work through, with around 46%, $629.5m, of claims settled. Again, as expected, house claims have been proceeding well with 61%, $972 m, paid out of estimated total claims worth around $1.6 bn across the two events. There are many complex and high value claims still to be settled.

Insurers have learned many lessons in dealing with more than a year’s worth of claims by value arising over the space of around 15 days earlier in the year. It was difficult for all involved in the early days, but insurers moved fast to bring in extra resources, some from overseas, and to put longer term plans in place to deal with claims. As a result, many hundreds of extra staff have been deployed.

"We said when disaster struck that we’d be in this with customers for the long haul, and so it has proved. There is still a way to go for many customers and insurers realise the pressure many people are under and are trying to get things resolved," added Tim.

In addition to the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle events, extreme weather in the North Island between 21 and 28 February (2,801 claims, $20,780,996) and again over 9-10 May (3,822 claims, $41,399,639) bring the total for climate related claims in 2023 to 119,435 worth around $3.563 bn.

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