DURBAN - INSURANCE providers are dealing with a high volume of claims after the catastrophic floods in KwaZulu-Natal last month.
Shakeel Ebrahim, head of operations at Standard Bank Insurance, said that since the floods there had been 3 873 claims received from the province.
“The process of claims involves an assessor/loss adjuster who will attend to the property alongside a service provider. The claim will then be quantified and a report submitted. Once the claim is authorised, the claim will either follow a cash in lieu route or a service provider is given authorisation to repair the property.”
Ebrahim added that if there was further damage caused by heavy rains in the interim before claims could be approved and repair work started, homeowners could still claim.
“Such damage would be covered under the policy as the proximate cause of the damage in the flood.”
Collin Molepe, managing executive: Absa Insurance, said Absa has received an influx of claims.
“KwaZulu-Natal in particular was the hardest hit resulting in catastrophic damage to properties and more than 80% of claims received are for this province.” Molepe added that additional resources had been deployed to KZN.
He said that measures put in place included increasing its pool of assessors on the ground in KZN.
“We have additional resources on standby should the need arise. We have in addition a dedicated team to manage the claims administration and to provide ongoing support to our customers.”
Soul Abraham, head of retail for Old Mutual Insure, said that as of April 14, they had received more than 720 claims related to the recent flooding in KZN with the total estimates at more than R245 million which spans homeowner, motor, commercial and speciality insurance cover.
“While this is a significant indication of the scale of the damage, this is more than likely only the tip of the iceberg. We are expecting many more claims to come in this week given that it is still early days.”
Abraham said that of the claims received, an estimated figure of R45m was attributable to homeowner, motor and commercial policies, while over R200m was estimated to be for speciality cover including for plants, factories, specialised equipment as well as shipping and maritime equipment.
“Our customer service teams are working around the clock to process claims fast and provide the necessary assistance to our policyholders. We have put additional teams in place to deal with the devastation and to ensure continuity of customer service.”
Vickey Swanevelder, Momentum Insure executive head: claims and client experience, said that Momentum Insure had received a large number of claims from affected clients in KZN.
“Natural disasters such as these are still infrequent in nature, and therefore remain insurable, as long as there is no existing damage and based on the client’s individual risk profile.”
She added that the claims team was ready to assist clients and had introduced mechanisms to submit claims, including through a financial adviser, via a dedicated email address, website, the Momentum app or the claims call centre.
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