Cyclone insurance claims surpass $1 billion in Hawke’s Bay, settlements proceeding ‘as expected’

Insurance claims from Cyclone Gabrielle have surpassed $1 billion in Hawke’s Bay, but insurers say settlements are still proceeding “as expected”.

The latest data from the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) shows there have been 18,526 Cyclone Gabrielle-related claims made in Hawke’s Bay for a value of $1,065,860,000.

It makes up nearly two-thirds of total claims across the entire country from the cyclone, $1,657,507,935.

Insurers have so far paid out $2.053b of the $3.5b in claims made for climate disasters at the start of the year, including the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods and extreme weather in the North Island between February 21 and 28 and May 9 to 10.

Nearly all, 96 per cent of motor vehicle claims across the country have been paid, while 84 per cent of contents claims have been paid.

For house claims, 61 per cent have been paid while business claims resolutions are lagging with about 46 per cent paid due to their complexity.

“Settlements have proceeded as expected across the different lines of insurance,” an ICNZ statement said.

In Hawke’s Bay, there have been 5183 claims for houses, 4982 contents claims, 4347 business claims, 3717 motor vehicle claims, 163 claims in the other category, 67 crops claims and 67 marine claims.

Tim Grafton, ICNZ chief executive, said good progress continued to be made on settling claims, especially when compared with prior large-scale disasters.

“But there is much more to be done and insurers will stand by customers until the last claim is settled,” Grafton said.

“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.”