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Our Insurance Survey
We conducted a survey to establish exactly what was going on with the insurance market in Morpeth. We delivered questionnaires to all the properties that were affected by the flood and a lot of adjoining ones. The results are a snapshot of what the state of affairs was in October 2010, over two years after the flood.
Some key findings are highlighted here:
- The average increase in Building and Contents premiums between 2008 and 2010 for owner occupier households that were flooded was 71%, compared to 9% for non-flooded households within flood-risk postcode areas, and a small reduction for other households
- The equivalent results for Contents-only premiums was 59% increase for flooded households, compared to 12% for non-flooded households, and a small reduction for other households
- Many companies are requiring high excesses for flood risk insurance, with some in excess of £10,000
- There is little evidence that insurance companies recognise the efforts of households that elect to reduce flood risk by installation of flood resistant products, through reduction in premiums or excesses
- There is no consistency of approach across different insurance companies, except that all major companies imposed significant increases for flooded households
- Almost all flooded households renewed their policies with the existing insurance company, compared with just 61% of non-flooded households, indicating that flooded households do not have consumer choice from the insurance industry
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