Insurance Articles
One in four homes destroyed in bushfires under-insured
Posted by admin - 13/02/09 at 09:02:03 amINSURANCE companies have revealed one in four homes destroyed by Victoria’s fires might not be covered by contents insurance.
Twenty-five per cent – 490,000 -of Victorian homes do not have contents insurance and 3.7 per cent – 50,000 – do not have house insurance, figures provided by the Insurance Council of Australia show.
Insurance companies are rushing to offering cash advances to homeowners who have lost property in the bushfires and have urged homeowners to contact them as soon as possible so that they can start processing claims.
With more than 750 homes destroyed by the fires and countless others damaged the damage bill is expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
But the Insurance Council of Australia said it was too early to estimate the total bill and number of claims.
Insurance Council of Australia chief executive Kerrie Kelly said insurers assessors would be assessing claims as soon as they were able to access fire-affected areas.
“At this stage it is too early to provide an estimate for the expected insurable recovery cost.
“The Insurance Council has established an insurance task force and is working closely with the Victorian government as well as the Master Builders Association in order to start the rebuilding process as soon as possible.”
Ms Kelly said policy holders who had lost their documentation should not worry as insurance companies kept electronic records.
Some insurance companies have experienced a surge of phone calls from uninsured home owners in at-risk areas.
However, the owners are being told new policies will not cover them for fire damage in certain areas or for a particular period.
Source: www.heraldsun.com.au 9 February 2009
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