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Storm damage: has climate change not yet arrived?
The truth is that natural disasters have never been more devastating on a global scale than in the last decade. The number of disasters that caused billions of dollars in economic damage rose to 417 in ten years from a similar figure of 255 in the 2000s. The number of insured cases has more than doubled, from 68 to 140, already In the long run the change is even more pronounced, as the Aon data below, which was written in detail in March, shows. In many cases, however, it is difficult to separate the effects of 1. an increase in the value of physical assets, 2. an increase in insurance coverage, and 3. the effects of climate change.
However, globally, the effects of climate change can be clearly felt, but in Hungary it would be premature to say this on the basis of data on insurance claims. Although MABISZ data shows that storm damage, which accounts for the majority of natural disasters, reached an unprecedented amount this 5-year summer (more precisely between May 1 and August 31), there has been a good number of most devastating summers before. The summer of 2010 stands out most in this millennium, when devastation accounted for four times the damage this year.
There is no clear trend to read in the data, at least not what we could blame for climate change, so we asked two leading national insurance experts to look at the situation. Speaking of storm damage, we also asked them about the rise in online and video claims (accelerated due to coronavirus) and home insurance.
Nándor Cserkuti, Director of Claims Settlement and Services at Aegon Magyarország Általános Biztosító Zrt According to him, this summer can be considered average for his company in terms of storm damage, but there were also surprises this year: an unusual storm struck in the first week of February, causing 400 million HUF in damage to the insurer and 10,000 events of damage, and a July accident will be memorable. .
In the case of damage events due to meteorological effect, there is a strong tendency for 80-90% of the damage to be caused by storm, wind and precipitation damage together. While in July thunderstorms, recently in late August – early September, hail caused more damage. Aegon does not deal with agricultural insurance, but its home insurance portfolio of more than HUF 30 billion is also affected by these damages, canopies, shutters and damage to the insulation of the facade. It can be restored relatively slowly, and the hail damage is higher: while the average damage per storm is 60,000, the average damage per hail is 200,000. Really large damage is not typical for storm damage, only 1% of lightning strikes also involve fire damage. Damages in excess of HUF 10 million are usually fire damage, which occurs more during the heating season, especially at Christmas, in the case of home insurance.
According to Cserkuti, the effects of climate change cannot yet be supported by the insurer’s statistics. About every two years there is a larger wave of damage, the course of which shows no significant changes.
Territorially, we can speak of storm and hail lanes in Hungary: one is Vas and Győr-Moson-Sopron counties, the other is Miskolc and Bács-Kiskun counties.
Aegon operates its own forecasting system, which also uses data from OMSZ, Time View, and other smaller service providers.
At Aegon, the share of online claims is now over 50%, the number was even higher during the closing period, and the share of phone claims is declining year over year. At the moment, claims are expected on its website, but even this year, the insurer may also launch an app that supports claims review and claims settlement, which will also be suitable for submitting videos and photos. With a temporary fix, but video claim resolution already launched in the first week of April, it became very popular within a few days.
The duration of claim resolution at Aegon is 5.4 days, video claim resolution can reduce this to 1-3 days, when professional restoration is required, where it can be 7-10 days. In most cases, the only “variable parameter” is customer availability, the location of the damage site. The settlement time “advances” from the moment the damage is reported.
Nándor Cserkuti mentioned it as interesting,
that in recent years there has been an increase in mechanical damage related to swimming pools, up to several million guilders,
These devices are quite complex and an outdoor damage event can cause great damage to them, they are also sensitive to lightning and storms.
According to Cserkuti, there are no great differences in the home insurance market with respect to the classic types of dangerousness, an average home insurance now includes all the coverage.
Allianz: this year’s downpour is a “sad blow”
Róbert Pónuzs, director of claims settlement at Allianz Hungária Zrt This year is also not outstanding in terms of the amount and amount of storm damage, but the increase in the amount of locally devastating clouds compared to previous periods is surprising. While more customers reported hail damage last year, this year’s downpour is a “sad blow.”
STORM DAMAGE INCLUDES PRIMARY AND SECONDARY LIGHTNING DAMAGE AS WELL AS STORM DAMAGED ROOF DAMAGE, REQUIRES LESS REPAIR.
Due to the increasing and decreasing number of the latter, the average amount of storm damage does not necessarily increase for insurers.
According to the Allianz expert, it can be said that the preparation of the Hungarian population is generally good, as the insurance coverage of the flats is high by international standards. At the same time, the awareness of companies is greater: more attention is paid to damage prevention and mitigation, many companies need to inspect structures at the beginning of the storm season and check the protection of machines. Downtime insurance provides special company coverage, compensating for losses caused by machines temporarily out of production, even in the event of storm damage.
Insurers are resolving storm damage faster, easier and smoother, easing the psychological and financial burden on victims.
At Allian, for example, the online claimant is very popular in retail property insurance, with nearly 70 percent of customers using it now, and the rate is even higher for storm damage. In the coming months, Allianz will introduce a simpler claims website, where it will be possible to report claims with significantly less data, first for auto insurance and then for home, thus helping victims with associated administrative tasks. with the claim.
They were launched last year with the remote claims service: through an app, the customer videotapes and photographs the damaged property on his own phone under the real-time guidance of an expert who is connected with him online. This year, it has become a very popular solution among customers, in the spring months of the epidemic its share increased to 70 percent of the review of retail property insurance claims, and even with the relief of the situation of the epidemic was reduced to only 55-60 percent, explained Róbert Pónuzs.
For those who do not choose this solution, the insurer also has a document-based claims collection, during which the insurer usually receives the documents necessary to resolve the claim by email or through the portal, usually in the form of photos. Allianz’s use of the damage status tracker, which is still widely used in this area, also allows clients to upload photos through the app during claims settlement. In the case of minor claims, claims settlement over the phone continues to operate, where the insurer determines the amount of claims based on the information provided by customers over the phone. The advantage of this is that the insurer can provide the service extremely quickly, but of course, this type of claims settlement also has conditions at Allian (for example, for claims history) and they also perform ad hoc ex post controls to detect fraud.
Cover image: Shutterstock
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