Majority of insurers performed well in handling flood claims.
For free trial analysis see: Pitt review goes easy on insurers
Insurers should better alert customers to flood risk, create industry guidance on flooding, and work with government to explore technology that would dry out homes faster, proposes Sir Michael Pitt’s independent flood review.
Pitt said that while the majority of insurers had performed well following the June and July floods that devastated thousands of UK homes in 2007, much more needs to be done.
“We undertook a survey of people who’d been flooded and we asked them directly what their experiences were like with the performance of the insurance industry and loss adjusters,” he said.
“Around 22% expressed dissatisfaction – either very dissatisfied or dissatisfied. So whilst the majority of the insurance industry did perform well under very extreme circumstances, there is a significant number who still need to do better.”
He said insurers should respond more quickly to customer phone calls. He added that some loss adjusters had told customers to leave soggy carpets in place until they could inspect the damage, but kept those customers waiting too long, which resulted in more damage.
