Claims pile in from UK flooding

Loss adjuster GAB Robins has received a 50% spike in calls this week following the extensive flooding across the UK.

Most of the calls were from Exeter and parts of the South West.

GAB’s building inspection team was also inundated with increased volumes of smaller building claims, but said it has capacity in all areas.

GAB has sent out 14 more loss adjusters to the worst affected areas, including Exeter, Bristol, Taunton, Gloucester and Leicester.

The additional workers will be supported by GAB’s surveying services team and emergency contractors.

GAB has also put additional adjusters on standby for Wales and the north east with the Pennines and North Wales are expected to receive 40mm and 70mm of rainfall in the coming days.

Crawford & Company, meanwhile, has taken calls from homes, commercial property and businesses.

A number of the claims were from south-west England, north Wales, Oxfordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

The loss adjuster said that shops, restaurants, factories, agricultural properties and garden nurseries were among those businesses affected.

A Crawford spokesman said: “All flood claims, domestic and commercial, need to be handled sensitively and require good communication owing to the length of any drying out process. We are providing as much support as possible to homeowners at what is an incredibly distressing time for them and working with suppliers to arrange alternative accommodation, emergency funds, emergency repairs and drying out equipment.

“Commercial claims bring their own challenges as our adjusters need to work closely with policyholders to not only help with reinstatement of property but to provide viable options to reduce business interruption costs and get businesses back trading. We are also making sure that we keep brokers informed of developments on claims.”

A Cunningham Lindsey spokesman said on Monday that calls received by its HelpLine were up 226% on last Sunday.

She said most of the regions had experienced increased claims volumes, particularly in the South West, including Plymouth.

She said that while the loss adjuster had received a high volume of claims, they were mostly household claims, so workload was not causing any capacity issues.  

Aviva said it has claims experts on the ground helping those in affected areas and has additional staff in place to deal with increased customer calls.

The insurer said the West, South West and Midlands have been the worst affected but, with the forecast rain likely to hit north Wales and the North East, other areas needed to be braced for potential flooding.

Aviva already has building contractors, surveyors and drying companies in flooded areas to assess the damage.

“Our claims teams have been on the ground in affected areas since last week and have begun visiting customers’ homes and assessing the damage first hand” said Aviva claims director Dominic Clayden.

“We have already organised alternative accommodation for customers who are unable to return to their homes and emergency payments have been made.

“Flooding is one of the most traumatic events that a homeowner can suffer and for many people it will be the first time they have had to deal with such disruption to their lives. So we know it is important to explain to people how it all works, what they can expect and what it means for their home and their family.

“Once we have assessed any damage we will be arranging drying equipment for those properties that need it and then the repair work can begin.”

A QuestGates spokesman said today that the loss adjuster was managing double the number of claims both on property claims and validation cases than the same time last year, with claims coming in from Ipswich, Brighton, Exeter, Wales, the Midlands and the North West.

He said the firm had staff on standby and was expecting more claims from the South West.

An Ageas spokesman said: “While Ageas has seen an increase in the number of calls as a result of the recent flooding, this is not hugely increased over normal levels. As usual process, we are responding to all claims quickly to help our customers through this challenging time for them.”

An spokesman for Allianz said its  property claims teams were “marginally more busy than usual”.

A Zurich spokesman said it might take a few days for claims to come in and the full scale of the situation to be understood.

He said that with more bad weather is on the way, Zurich’s major incident team was on standby and had extra staff manning the phones in its contact centres.

The Environment Agency currently has 230 flood warnings in force, with a further 299 areas on flood alert.