As the New Year entered and people started going back to work, Brits have been enduring forceful gale winds and torrential rain. And with this storm that has descended upon the United Kingdom, it has brought about considerable increases in home and car insurance claims. According to a significant car insurance provider in the UK, the insurance claims during the first week of January 2012 are higher by 28 % compared to the insurance claims made on the same period of January 2011.
According to the car insurance company’s survey, during the first five days of January this year, there were almost 1,200 car insurance claims made on a daily basis. If the insurance claims made on the previous year would be taken into consideration, it would be seen that the number in current insurance claims have indeed increased significantly.
A certain broker has taken note of all insurance claims made on the first five days of this year. The recorded data has shown results of up to 991 car insurance claims. Nationally, there are an estimated number of more than 5,600 insurance claims made in relation to the awful weather.
Scotland has also endured strong gales and bad weather. This is why car insurance policyholders have also called in to their insurers to make an insurance claim. According to the recorded statistics, around 65 % of calls made within the first five days of 2012 were all weather related. This means that 1 out of every 5 calls is a weather-related insurance claim.
Director and Car insurance expert at the insurance company said that, “The most common cause of damages was roof tiles and tree branches that have been dislodged due to the forceful winds. Other claims were made due to items that were not fixed to the floor. An example of such is the case where eight vehicles were damaged due to a garden trampoline. Other items include garbage bins, garden sheds, TV aerials, a roof of a church hall and also a dinghy.”
“Other customers have also had their vehicle doors ripped off due to the great gusts of wind that have caused the door to unhinge and damage other vehicles and items in its way.”
“Some other weather-related insurance claims during the same time period include vehicles that have been stranded in floods, being hit by other vehicles that were blown away by the wind and drivers that have simply lost control of their cars due to the strong gales.”
Drivers have recently complained to the Met Office for not predicting the severity of the gales. According to them, they were not properly prepared because they did not expect the winds to reach 100 mph.