Insurance firms inundated with claims

by Franco Aloisio

The heavy rainfall of these last days has not only left its mark on the physical environment of the country but also on insurance companies and car breakdown services, which were literally inundated with claims and requests for help.

Contacted by The Malta Business Weekly, various insurance companies said that if the claims made in these last days are verified, they will have to hand out thousands of pounds to pay for the damages caused by the heavy rainfall.

The majority of the claims were motor- related. Practically all motor claims which were filed due to the bad weather resulted from the flooding of vehicles, especially cars.

The motor claims manager of Atlas Insurance, Steve Conti, told The Malta Business Weekly that the number of claims recorded over the last days was 50 per cent more than normal. He said that the most common, and costly problem for motorists was the flooding of the vehicle's engine.

"We estimate that around we will have to pay around Lm1,500 to every policy-holder who had his or her engine flooded with rain water. We have had at least 12 similar cases since Monday," said Mr Conti.

Substantial insurance claims were made also on flooded property, especially private residences. Commercial buildings such as shops, hotels and restaurants filed claims in the last days. The assistant manager of the property claims section of Atlas, Charmaine Mattocks, said that from the number of claims received it was evident that many residences in Malta and Gozo were badly hit by the bad weather. Grace Ann Ebejer, from the property claims department of Laferla Insurance Agency said that the company had received 23 claims of property which was flooded and which were badly damaged by the rainfall which poured incessantly over the last week.

"It is too early to assess the cost of the damages as we will have to survey the various property in the coming days," she said.

The business and property section of Gasan and Mamo Insurance Agency was also very active, with at least 100 flood-related claims, according to Gordon Axiaq. He said this figure surpasses by 50 per cent the number of claims recorded last year, during one particular strong storm.

Another service which operated all around the clock in these last four days was the car breakdown service. RMF alone received over 2,000 calls for assistance since last Sunday. The largest number of requests was recorded on Tuesday, with 590 requests, followed by Monday's 540, Sunday's 480 and yesterday's 400 requests.

The Malta Business Weekly spoke to Patrick Rausi, director of RMF. He said that the number of cars which were assisted in the last four days was a record for the company, which owns 22 towing trucks. The most common problem for motorists was stalled engines, said Mr Rausi.

Other breakdown services were also very active this week as they assisted thousands of other vehicle owners who were left stranded due to the heavy rainfall.