Can insurance compensate for it?, The car was washed away by the flood. Zhongxin | Jingwei | Insurance
On the 31st, due to various factors such as the residual circulation of the "Dussuri" moving northward, extreme heavy rainfall occurred in North China, Huanghuai and other areas. According to the Beijing Flood Control Office, as of 12:00 noon on the 31st, multiple road sections in the city have experienced water accumulation and circuit breakers. There are also several sudden situations such as landslides and small-scale flash floods in Mentougou and Fangshan. Multiple video clips circulating online show that some vehicles were washed away by floods. Can insurance compensate for this situation?
No car damage insurance, no car compensation
If not found, it is generally presumed to be a total loss
In response to concerns from netizens, on the afternoon of the 31st, Zhongxin Jingwei called multiple insurance companies as consumers.
The customer service personnel of Yanzhao Property and Casualty Insurance told China News Service that after the car was washed away by floods, the damage should be determined based on the actual damage to the car, and then claims should be made. But the premise is that the owner has purchased car damage insurance. If there is no car damage insurance, it is not within the scope of insurance claims. In general, car damage insurance for private cars is not covered for more than 8 years, and there are very few insurance companies that can provide coverage for more than 10 years. If the car is washed away by floods, there may be damage to the body of the car and water damage. After the comprehensive reform of car insurance, water related insurance has been incorporated into car damage insurance. If car owners have not purchased car damage insurance and want to reduce losses, they need to contact the public security organs as soon as possible.
Ping An Property and Casualty Insurance customer service personnel told China News Service that in the event of a car being washed away by a flood, it is recommended that the owner report the incident as soon as possible within 48 hours. How to determine the specific loss requires the claims personnel to conduct an offline actual survey. Before the insurance company arrives, car owners can take photos of the scene and the damage to the vehicle in a timely manner, while ensuring their own safety, in order to assess the loss and claim compensation.
If the car owner does not know where the car has been washed up and the search for the car is unsuccessful, how can the insurance determine the loss? Can compensation be made?
A staff member from a large domestic property and casualty insurance company told China News Service that if the vehicle is completely washed away and cannot be recovered, the owner can compensate if they purchase car damage insurance. In general, after the car owner reports to the insurance company, the insurance company will advise the car owner to search for the vehicle for a period of time. If the vehicle is not found after a period of time, the car owner needs to report to the public security organs and obtain a certificate of loss and vehicle cancellation from the public security organs. For vehicles that have not been found, insurance companies generally treat them as presumed total losses. Depreciation is calculated based on the actual service life of the vehicle during compensation.
However, as car damage insurance is voluntarily purchased by car owners, many people do not purchase it. "If customers have purchased car damage insurance, they can claim compensation. Nowadays, car damage insurance mostly includes spontaneous combustion and water related insurance, but many car owners only purchase compulsory traffic insurance and third-party insurance." A staff member from a local branch of a small and medium-sized property insurance company told China News Service.
Insurance companies face high claims pressure
What is the coverage of car damage insurance? How to determine the coverage amount?
Zhao Chumin, the product manager of Huize Insurance Brokerage's property insurance line, said that the mountain flood washed away the car. If there is a car damage insurance policy, it can be compensated. The protection scope of vehicle damage insurance includes natural disasters of force majeure, including ground subsidence, tsunami, ice subsidence, cliff collapse, avalanche, hail disaster, debris flow, landslide, lightning strike, storm, tornado, rainstorm, flood, etc.
The above person in charge introduced that the insured amount of car damage insurance does not necessarily refer to the value of the car. There are three ways to determine the insured amount of car damage insurance: first, determine the insured amount based on the purchase price of the new car, which means that the insured amount is the same as the price of the new car, and can receive approximately the highest compensation for the new car price; 2、 The insurance amount is determined based on the actual value of the vehicle at the time of insurance, and only the remaining price compensation after deducting depreciation from the new car price can be obtained. The insurance amount is not the price of the vehicle itself; Calculation formula: Actual value of vehicle=purchase price of new car -; 3、 This method will only be adopted for special vehicles, such as limited edition luxury cars, out of print antique cars, etc., which are of high value and do not have a nationwide unified retail price, and need to be negotiated and determined with the insurance company.
He further pointed out that for vehicle losses caused by flash floods, if the vehicle has no repair value or the repair exceeds the residual value of the vehicle, the insurance amount will be directly compensated. If not, compensation will be based on the specific amount of the loss.
"In theory, car damage insurance can be compensated, but it must be an accidental event. If you know that there will be a flash flood here and still park, it is a human factor and generally not compensated," said Fang Ruixin, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Analysys in an interview with China News Service.
Frequent occurrence of extreme weather brings certain pressure to insurance companies for claims settlement. For example, in July 2021, extremely heavy rainstorm disaster occurred in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. According to data disclosed by the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, as of December 2021, the amount of compensation paid by car insurance in this disaster exceeded 7 billion yuan.
Fang Ruixin stated that extreme weather may indeed have an impact on the performance of property and casualty insurance companies, such as the 2021 winter storm Uri hitting the United States, causing over $15 billion in insurance losses. The impact of extreme weather on insurance companies is not only on insurance losses, but also on increasingly complex claims disputes, including the impact on the reputation of insurance companies. In addition, there is an adjustment to the catastrophe coefficient, which insurance companies need to pay attention to in terms of claims and products.
