North Island floods largest motor claims event in AA history

AA Insurance expected the January storms to be the largest motor claims event in its history.

As of February, with claims numbers expected to rise, AA had received more than 5300 claims in total. Around 2300 were home claims, 1500 contents claims, and 1500 are vehicle claims.

A week after the devastating summer floods, AA insurance reported it had settled close to 60% of 1500 motor claims received.

Beau Paparoa, head of motor claims, said: “We know that losing a vehicle can impact heavily on our customers’ lives – disrupting their ability to get to work, drop kids off at school or childcare, and other family commitments.

“Due to the nature of the flooding, we are assessing most flood-damaged vehicles as a total loss - which means we can settle these claims quickly and get money to our customers’ hands, so they can move fast to source a replacement vehicle and get back on the road.”

With most new cars featuring complex electronics, flood damage led to a significant number of write-offs.

Paparoa said: “Once water reaches a certain level, your car’s electronics might continue to work for a while, but there’s a chance they will stop working eventually, and the last thing anyone needs is for their car’s safety features to stop working when they are halfway down the motorway.

“That is why we are writing these vehicles off and focusing on getting money into the customer’s hands, this approach will also help our customers overcome another potential challenge on the horizon – the ongoing supply chain issues for motor vehicles, which could further impact the availability of vehicles for purchase over the coming months,” he added.