Insurance Payouts Surge Due to Snow

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), a whopping 335,000 claims were made this winter as a direct result of the hazardous weather conditions that swept the country, with a massive £650m being paid out by insurers.

As you may expect, the lion’s share of those claims came due to damaged vehicles on the slippery roads.  The coldest January in 23 years saw a significant rise in the number of car accidents as well as hitting many businesses hard.

80% of the claims were motor related with the vast majority coming as a result of accidental damage, as even the most experienced of drivers struggled to maintain control of vehicles in the treacherous conditions.

The figures show results from the 18 December through to 13 January, the period in which the weather was worst. 

Going back a few more weeks and the figure hits almost £1bn as the wintery weather came on the back of the flooding in the Lake District, which had already caused a rise in insurance claims.

"Insurers have paid out nearly £1bn to customers following bad weather this winter, as the heavy snow came weeks after the flooding in Cumbria," said Nick Starling, of the ABI.

There were also a lot of claims by home and business owners with regards to property damage.  ABI said that claims of this nature were double what they would usually expect from the period in any other year.  Many of these claims were due to roof damage.

ABI has results and speaks for 90% of the insurance market.

Posted at 02:18PM Mar 11, 2010 by Marc Stenton in UK Economy News  |  Comments[0]