Insurance sector bracing for huge rise in claims

Bengaluru: With rains lashing Bengaluru city relentlessly and leading to widespread loss of property, roads and businesses, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, has been seeing an uptick in four-wheeler claims post the Bengaluru deluge. As East Bengaluru was severely impacted, high-value claims of premium segment vehicles have been reported.

As on September 13, losses for premium vehicles affected in the Bengaluru floods are estimated to cross Rs 10 Crore. So far, about 175 claims have been intimated for flood-affected vehicles and another 100 claims are expected in the coming days. Bengaluru Motor OD claims amounting to approx. Around Rs 13.5 crores have been reported in the last 15 days from Bengaluru and surrounding locations.

In such difficult times, insurance coverage is handy and provides a financial cushion against damages. Thus, ICICI Lombard strives to settle these claims in an effective and timely manner backed by tech-enable solutions. The insurer has a weather monitoring mechanism that keeps sending alerts regarding possible flooding or disasters in the customer's location. This helped the Company to trigger SMS alerts to customers residing in Bengaluru and nearby areas to take caution as soon as the area started flooding.

The company also connected with all the network garages and support centres to communicate the line of action to assist customers who have had their vehicles damaged by water. A direct line was also enabled at the company call centre for connecting flood-affected customer calls directly with Customer Relationship Managers. Furthermore, customers were assisted with ICICI Lombard's Road Assistance Services wherever needed by arranging towing van at the customer location.