Hailstorm insurance claims: Thousands still not assessed

Insurance companies continue to plough through a backlog of insurance claims almost a month after a destructive hailstorm hit the Central Coast on December 20. Many are still waiting.

Damaged cars at Erina Fair after a hailstorm hit Central Coast NSW. Source: Twitter

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Insurance companies continue to plough through a backlog of insurance claims almost a month after a destructive hailstorm hit the Central Coast on December 20.

The fierce storm rained down huge hailstones across many suburbs, wrecking roofs, smashing windscreens and peppering cars with dints.

Thousands of house and car claims have been lodged and insurers say they are prioritising the most damaged vehicles and property.

However, many Central Coast claimants have not yet even reached the assessment stage.

One Saratoga family said they had called their insurer on the day of the storm and waited for two hours on hold to lodge claims for two vehicles.

Badly damaged cars have been prioritised by insurers. Source: Twitter

They were told at the at time that someone would call them in three days to start the process.

When no contact was made after almost two weeks, they contacted the insurer again and were told someone would contact them in three days.

The family has still not had any phone call or assessment.

IAG Insurance — the parent company for NRMA Insurance, CGU, SGIO, SGIC, Swann Insurance and WFI, said there was a had a total of 4218 property and vehicle claims on the Central Coast. The highest number came from Wamberal with 884 claims followed by Umina Beach with 804.

Hundreds of car windows were smashed by hail. Source: Twitter

Erina had 776, Kincumber 745, Terrigal 670, Bateau Bay 325, Green Point 316, Saratoga 295 and Forresters Beach 287.

IAG Executive general manager of claims Luke Gallagher said the priority has been ensuring the safety of properties and helping customers get back on their feet quickly.

“We’ve received more than 43,000 claims (overall) with three quarters of these for hail damage to motor vehicles,” he said.

“We have 11 specialist hail repair sites for customers’ motor vehicles across Sydney, and on the Central Coast at Erinaand Lisarow.” he said.

“Through this network of specialist sites, we can assess up to 1,000 vehicles a day.

“We encourage customers to contact us to lodge their claim so that we can arrange for their property or vehicle to be assessed and repaired as soon as possible.”

Huge hail fell at Saratoga during the December storm.

Suncorp — parent company to GIO, AAMI Apia, Shannons and Bingle said thousands of claims had already been processed and completed.

Suncorp head of motor claims Paul Sofronoff said the company expected the majority of claims to be assessed by early February.

“Suncorp has established two motor vehicle assessment and repair centres in Gosford to streamline the claims process for customers,” Mr Sofronoffsaid.

“These centres are designed to quickly assess and triage all hail-affected vehicles to make the repair process as seamless and efficient as possible,” he said.

“Once we’ve assessed the majority of affected vehicles, these sites will transform into repair centres, which will allow us to repair customers’ vehicles, faster.”