As Cyclone Gabrielle continues causing havoc down the lower half of the North Island, many Kiwis are now beginning to look at the clean-up and what their insurance can help them recover from their damaged homes. And you might be surprised by the number of items you can claim under your insurance.
Whether you rent or own a property, Contents Insurance will help cover you if your property is uninhabitable and help pay for accommodation somewhere else of an "equivalent standard".
"If you can't use your kitchen, you can't use the toilets and bathrooms and things like that, then obviously you know that is going to point to being an uninhabitable property," Tim Grafton, CEO of the Insurance Council told our sister station MoreFM.
"Typically at the lowest end, the cover will be for up to about $20,000 worth of accommodation value, but it can go up depending on some policies are much higher than that. So it's a really valuable piece to have."
While many Kiwis might think they can immediately use the insurance money to book into a motel during a flood, Tim warns that deciding too quickly to do that may not be the wisest decision for your money in the long run. Ideally, claiming insurance for accommodation will be better while your house is under repair.
"Our bit of advice here is if you can stay with friends and family initially, then that might be a very useful thing to do. If your property has been extensively damaged and it may take quite a while to fix things up, then it's at that stage you might want to have that accommodation support kicking in."
However, the most important task to complete before you make any insurance claim - take all the photos you can. These can be for your insurance claim process online and will help the insurers make a quicker decision.
