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Cooroy woman's five year insurance nightmare WHEN Cyclone Debbie hit in 2017, it was the start of a five-year nightmare for Cooroy resident, Peggie Cordner. Peggie owned a six apartment motel with a restaurant in the heart of Airlie Beach - freshly renovated, fully tenanted and ready for sale. On 28 March 2017, Cyclone Debbie circled for 13 hours with 265k/ph winds, dumping tons of rain. Consequently, the roofs and windows buckled and failed. Peggie said that they had insurance but the process soon "became a nightmare", one that took five years to complete. "We had a very comprehensive insurance cover with one of Australia's biggest insurers. "Very quickly our claim became very complicated due to the offhanded way that we were being treated
by the insurance company and the local council claiming they had lost some of the records for our property. "Because we'd bought the building in 2002, we first had to prove we'd spent money maintaining and improving the property, by producing records and receipts. "Luckily, I keep everything to do with all of our properties. “For some three plus years the insurance company continued to accuse us of not maintaining the property or not getting proper approvals even though we produced the relevant documents. "We managed to reopen the restaurant after a couple of weeks but the motel business was closed for the best part of four years. “We received our two year loss of income cover in bits and pieces over the five
years, and bits and pieces of building cover over that period as well. “We wanted the building to be repaired and back on the market as soon as possible so we had to borrow money where we could to do those repairs.” Even then, Peggie said that they were accused by the insurance company representatives of not performing the repairs up to standard. "Under the guidance of Scott Fawke from Ausure Coast and Country, we eventually had to go to the Ombudsman to get the insurance company to adhere to their contract. This is a long and complicated process.” Scott said that the claim was referred to him six months into the process. "We travelled up to Airlie to see it from the ground, then went about putting
The Airlie Beach property at the centre of the insurance dispute.
pressure on the insurance company and organising part payments to commence repairs.” "After a fairly drawn-out battle, we managed to have the claim resolved with a payout of close to $1.5m for damage and business interruption, which is a bit better than the initial offer of $70,000.” "The final payment came through a few weeks ago." After 1835 days. Peggie said she and her assessors were all staggered at the treatment that they were given by the insurance company and are thankful to Scott for his knowledge and tenacity. "Once we had Scott on board, then we started to get a bit of traction on the claim. Scott knows his contracts inside out and
back to front." Scott said that consumers need to be educated about the difference between direct insurers and insurance brokers. "What we do is service that is quality based. We work for the client, not for the insurers. We have over 200 insurers on our books and some of them are insurers that only work with brokers." Peggie said that now they have received the final payment, they've been able to pay off a lot of debt. "People think you get a big windfall from a claim but you don't. It just pays off what you have already spent. There is no compensation for your thousands of hours of time or the stress you have to endure. “If we hadn't had the backing of our other
companies during those five years, that company would have gone broke and been bankrupted.” Peggie was able to sell the building in April last year. "We would highly recommend Scott and his team for any insurance especially to protect valuable business assets and properties. He knows what is in the 'fine print' and we wouldn't have been able to get this far without his support and knowledge.” Ausure Coast and Country opened its Cooroy Office 12 months ago to provide a community-based service to Cooroy. For more information on Ausure Coast and Country, call the office on (07) 5491 7888.
WE CARE ABOUT THE RIGHT INSURANCE POLICY FOR YOU. WE ARE GENERAL INSURANCE SPECIALISTS – HOME, MOTOR & BUSINESS
At Ausure Coast & Country, we care about our clients
LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL… BY/BUY LOCALS, FOR LOCALS
WE OFFER COMPLIMENTARY QUOTES OR REVIEWS OF EXISTING COVERS
Ausure Coast & Country prides itself on its highly professional service to clients. We take pride in treating every client with efficiency and integrity, ensuring every adviser is highly skilled in both insurance products and the personal and commercial needs of farm and business owners. Most of our Ausure Coast & Country advisers are fastidious believers in good old fashioned “service”, personalised to their clients and local in their approach. When you deal with an Ausure Coast & Country adviser, you are usually dealing with a person local to your business, who you can meet with in person and directly contact very quickly. There are no call centres or impersonal behaviour in our business. It is all about service and care for our clients.
4/6 Emerald Street Cooroy Drop in or call us for an obligation free chat. Phone 5491 7888 Page
10 - Cooroy Rag, 25 May 2022
The only insurance broker in town Ausure Coast and County Pty Ltd is an Authorised Representative of Ausure Pty Ltd ABN 94 096 971 854 AFSL 238433.
