Insurers have fully settled 87% of all private insurance claims from the Auckland Anniversary weekend and Cyclone Gabrielle weather events. The two events are separately the two largest insurance weather events in Aotearoa’s history. Insurers have settled 99,798 of 115,353 claims valued at $3.6bn.
“Really good progress has been made on settling claims. Insurers are committed to finalising the remaining claims with their customers. We know some homeowners are waiting to settle until more is known about their local council voluntary buyout offer. Our message to homeowners is that your insurance claim needs to be completed before starting the property purchase process. As people will not be financially advantaged or disadvantaged by waiting we encourage people to continue to work with their insurer to finalise their claim” said Insurance Council Chief Executive Tim Grafton.
The $2.7bn paid out to 1 December covers 87% of claims by volume and around 75% by value. By value, residential house claims are 84%, contents 95% and motor 99% fully settled. The nature of Business Interruption claims means payments are spread over time and so progress is tracking as expected (75% by number and 57% by value).
| Summary as at 1 December 2023 | Auckland Anniversary Weekend event | Cyclone Gabrielle event | Total both events |
| Claims Received | 58,121 | 57,232 | 115,353 |
| Claims Settled | 50,119 | 49,679 | 99,798 |
| Claims paid to date | $1,469,545,124 | $1,248,427,749 | $2,717,972,872 |
| Estimated cost | $1,899,026,554 | $1,732,616,941 | $3,631,643,495 |
Progress by type of insurance
| Both events | Claims Received | Claims fully settled | Claims Progress | Paid to date $ | Estimated cost $ | Payment |
| House | 56,607 | 48,208 | 85% | 1,406,070,458 | 1,673,513,288 | 84% |
| Contents | 23,856 | 22,369 | 94% | 250,429,864 | 263,692,917 | 95% |
| Business | 18,006 | 13,562 | 75% | 814,857,610 | 1,420,283,503 | 57% |
| Marine | 275 | 237 | 86% | 5,807,254 | 7,070,420 | 82% |
| Motor | 15,573 | 14,607 | 94% | 218,127,163 | 220,628,001 | 99% |
| Crop | 69 | 69 | 100% | 643,766 | 643,766 | 100% |
| Other | 967 | 746 | 77% | 22,036,757 | 45,811,600 | 48% |
| Total | 115,353 | 99,798 | 87% | 2,717,972,872 | 3,631,643,495 | 75% |
‘Other’ can be made up of claims not yet allocated to a line of business which will change but also includes a very small portion of the likes of travel insurance claims related to the event.
Important note:
In the above table the claims progress differs considerably, particularly for Business. This is normal as the nature of Business Interruption claims are paid over a period of time.
