Woooaaahh earthquake 2016-11-14

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#1672467 16-Nov-2016 23:59

Very glad I switched our insurance a few weeks ago to FMG, which still uses the older style square meter basis rather than sum insured caps! Not that (AFAICT) I have any claims to make resulting from the one earlier this week. The one this evening centred 30km away from here may look different in the morning but I do not think so.

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#1672468 17-Nov-2016 00:54

DarthKermit:

Quotable Value says that building at 61 Molesworth Street, Wellington was built in 1960.

It isn't always accurate. For our house it says the house was built in the 60's and has only 1 bathroom. But it was rebuilt and extended in the 90's and has two bathrooms.

But if it was built in the 1960's (which is possible looking at it) then it is a good 50 years old, so hardly a new building failure. People do also need to remember that a lot of Wellingtons old buildings have been strengthened, unlike in Christchurch at the time of the EQs.

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#1672480 17-Nov-2016 04:57

DarthKermit:
Quotable Value says that building at 61 Molesworth Street, Wellington was built in 1960.

Other sources say designed in 1961, completed and occupied Feb 1965. One Council publication gets it wrong saying x 1970 for ICI and Vogel buildings.

I'm always amused by the vagueness of real estate descriptions "circa 1960" as if there's no record.

tdgeek

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#1672487 17-Nov-2016 07:21

Fred99:

The restriction didn't go away quickly either. I still had to go through submitting all the documentation etc 18 months ago - 4 years since the last damaging quake. Building / construction insurance premiums also went through the roof for a year or so, and took quite a while to drop back down.

The news said the range will narrow down quite quickly, so I assume its caution for now, and in not too long a period, it may go from just north of ChCh to stop at Wellington. Welly issue is that while Kaikoura is miles away, Seddon isn't. Hopefully this time around, the insurance will be on a case by case basis. I.e. a weatherboard and iron roof house is a better bet than other types, perhaps.

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#1672505 17-Nov-2016 07:51

I see Wellington is back to work today, the mayor says its safe. I hope employers do what was done in ChCh, allow staff time. Make arrangements for other temporary premises, make arrangements to work from home if thats feasible depending on the occupation.

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#1672507 17-Nov-2016 07:57

We're working from home this week, which I think is a good decision. The company is waiting for a second check on the building, which I also think is a good decision...

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#1672508 17-Nov-2016 07:57

2degrees update:

2degrees Mobile Network update:

We are pleased to advise full mobile services have been restored across the majority of quake impacted areas. Although there may be isolated pockets of inhibited service our cell sites in Kaikoura are up and running with full SMS, voice and data services available to 2degrees customers.

2degrees broadband/fixed line:

Broadband and fixed line services are also live in Kaikoura, although connectivity will be dependent on individual circumstances. The Canterbury District Health Board/2degrees enabled Wi-Fi at the hospital also remains available.

2degrees will continue to work to maintain and stabilise our communications infrastructure for customers. Our techs, engineers and network partners have done a great job to put in place fixes and workarounds to get us to this point. We will continue to monitor and manage the situation to get and keep our customers connected.

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#1672535 17-Nov-2016 09:06

tdgeek:

The news said the range will narrow down quite quickly, so I assume its caution for now, and in not too long a period, it may go from just north of ChCh to stop at Wellington. Welly issue is that while Kaikoura is miles away, Seddon isn't. Hopefully this time around, the insurance will be on a case by case basis. I.e. a weatherboard and iron roof house is a better bet than other types, perhaps.

I hope the range does narrow down quickly. In Chch various things were said, that it would be "business as normal - soon", that there was an extension of the freeze every time there was a M5+ aftershock, but it seemed to be along the lines of "informed gossip" with the insurance companies themselves and the insurance council not being very specific - and it dragged on for years. The aftershock sequence dragged on for years too, but specifically it was about 6 months between the main shock and the aftershock which did the real damage. I guess they'll be thinking of that when they're assessing how quickly to narrow down the range in this case.

The tardiness in GNS revising EQ magnitude up from M7.5 to M7.8 won't have been missed. USGS had it pegged at M7.8 quickly, there are valid technical reasons why GNS didn't, but still, if some actuaries sitting in offices in Zurich were to get the impression that GNS might be trying to understate magnitude - thus estimates for the severity of aftershock sequence, they might raise an eyebrow as to whether there might have been some interference in the scientific process. The reinsurers are also very much a cartel - they talk to each other.

The whole thing isn't very "transparent", you apply for a policy talking to a broker or rep with expectation that it'll be okay, there's no list of "requirements" set out beforehand, in normal times for normal people the process is very quick and painless. In quake times, the way it seemed to work was that the process wasn't so quick - before they'd issue a policy they had to check with "the back room guys" presumably their own actuaries - and that might take a day or two. They'd tend to give a binary answer - yes or no. If the answer was no, there's no compulsion on insurers in NZ to provide a reason why they decline to insure, you don't get to talk to the actuaries - they're invisible.

Brokers may be better than dealing directly with the companies - they'd have a better "feel" for what the insurers may or may not do than you'll find out from the company staff (basically nothing).

I suppose there's good reason for that, but it can be very frustrating and with a fishhook - in insurance applications there's usually a question asking if you've ever been declined insurance. I don't know what the implications are long-term when you disclose that you have been declined, they won't tell you that either. Of course if you don't disclose, then your policy is worthless.

There's no "Insurer of Last Resort" in NZ. There is the option through brokers to obtain limited insurance offshore, still backed by Lloyds etc, but these policies excluded earthquake insurance. However as they do include payment of the EQC levy, policy holders should be covered for the first $100k damage per claim, less excess.

In Christchurch, EQC were advising people to lodge a claim for each major event even though there didn't appear to be damage. Then EQC would "apportion" the claim, dividing the total cost or repairs by the number of claims, this keeping the total of each claim under the $100,000 "cap" and not passing the claim on to your private insurer.

I believe that you've got 3 months in which to lodge a claim with EQC. If there hasn't been an assessment of damage carried out already, think carefully about the implications of lodging a second or third claim if there are significant aftershocks. For example, if your slab foundation was munted in the first quake, then seemed to be munted a little bit more in the second quake, EQC may say that they can fix it for less than the $200,000 (&GST) cost by saying each event did <$100k damage which is actually patently absurd if it was stuffed in the first event. Alternatively, if there's only one claim in place, you're more likely to have the entire claim passed on to your insurer.

If in this case (probably) that insurers carry out assessments, they'll also prefer to apportion total damage across multiple events.

So think carefully before lodging claims. If this seems like "gaming the system" - believe me that gaming the system when you do lodge a claim is the #1 method used by the insurers against you.

MikeAqua

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#1672541 17-Nov-2016 09:17

One of the downsides (there are also upsides) of compulsory-single-insurer schemes like ACC and EQC is the insurer is not exposed to the sanction of the market.

If a car insurer gets a reputation for being too hard nosed about claims, people won't buy cover from them, they will lose business and have to adjust their practices. EQC can be as hard nosed as they like because they have a largely captive market. They only way to avoid them is to have no cover at all.

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#1672544 17-Nov-2016 09:22

Is chch affected? Didn't hear much news but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not affected (cue Waiau)

tdgeek

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#1672546 17-Nov-2016 09:23

We bought another home 8 months ago. The lawyer said if there was an EQ, its our claim after signing S+P. That implies to me that there wasn't an option for the insurer (Lumley via Westpac) to cancel the policy given yesterdays announcement. Is that true for existing S+P as at yesterday, or is it more for the auction tomorrow?

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#1672548 17-Nov-2016 09:23

From Spark:

Spark to waive moving and termination fees for earthquake affected residents

Spark has announced today the usual fees for moving or terminating a Spark broadband contract early will not apply to those forced to move as a result of this week’s earthquakes.

Spark Home, Mobile, and Business CEO, Jason Paris, said he hopes waiving the fees will mean there’s one less thing for people to worry about.

“For those people it must be a hugely stressful time, and the news they may need to move is always devastating. We think the most important thing we can do is help make this process as smooth as we can at our end, and waiving fees is the right thing to do,” said Paris.

Normally, moving house incurs a standard connection fee, which reflects the cost to Spark of shifting the service, a cost that can be up to $190 depending on whether there is an existing line at the new address or not.

There may also be a charge if a customer moves to a temporary address and then back and takes their service with them.

Early Termination Fees are charged if a contract is cancelled before the term is up, and the amount depends on the connection type and how much time is left on the contract.

While these standard fees will be waived any non-standard installation fees will still need to be charged.

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#1672564 17-Nov-2016 09:31

joker97:

Is chch affected? Didn't hear much news but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not affected (cue Waiau)

yes, down to Rakaia

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#1672566 17-Nov-2016 09:35

From Spark/Vodafone:

Telecommunications services restored in Kaikoura

Work to restore telecommunications services in Kaikoura has been successful with broadband and IP voice services returning at 11pm last night. This followed Vodafone, Spark and Chorus collaborating to re-route traffic to Wellington and Christchurch through provisioned capacity on Vodafone’s Aqualink cable.

With the Wellington link established, all of Kaikoura’s 1,466 broadband customers should see their broadband service restored. However, specific local issues following the earthquakes, such as loss of power to a street cabinet or damage to an individual’s line, may result in some faulty connections.

Our recommendation is for Kaikoura broadband customers, regardless of their provider, is to try reconnecting to their broadband. To re-set the connection, they should first turn their broadband modem off and on again. If they are then unable to connect and have mobile phone coverage, they should log the fault with their broadband provider.

Work to re-connect landlines is due to complete later today, as this requires an additional link from Kaikoura to Christchurch.

In addition, work to restore connectivity to the Waiau exchange is now complete after a 1km fibre replacement cable was helicoptered in yesterday. Waiau residents should now have full access to landline services. We hope to re-establish broadband and full mobile connectivity later today.

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#1672572 17-Nov-2016 09:56

freitasm:

From Spark:

Spark to waive moving and termination fees for earthquake affected residents

That's a nice thing for them to do. Is Chorus waiving it to them, or are they wearing it outright anyone know?

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