If you have been confirmed as Category 3 by your local council, please call our claims teams to receive more information and support with your claim on 0800 800 134
Back Back to homepage
Wild Weather
Claims Process
Understanding the insurance claim journey from lodgement through to assessment and management can help to support your recovery.
We’re working alongside local councils, Toka Tū Ake EQC, Civil Defence, and other insurers to resolve claims as quickly as possible.
Our building project management partner is Morgan Project Services (MPS). To get an idea on how we jointly manage a large weather event response, you can check out the MPS flood damage process.
Click here to view the MPS Customer Building Claims Journey.
If you’ve been affected, lodge your claim as soon as possible.
You can do this online. This is the fastest way to lodge a claim, taking approximately 15 minutes. For urgent claims, it is best to call us on 0800 800 134.
As with all significant events, we triage claims to prioritise urgent claims. We do this according to a range of factors including the extent of property damage and the customer’s circumstances, including any vulnerabilities. You can get more information here on what we mean by vulnerable customers.
The claims and assessment process
If you have lodged a claim: Rest assured, we’ll be working through this and making contact as soon as possible. For urgent enquiries customers can contact Morgan Project Services (MPS) via email: priority@morganprojects.co.nz or call Vero on 0800 800 134.
After you have lodged a claim: We’ll contact you, focusing first on those that are most in need. Contact will be from Vero directly or MPS. When we contact you, we’ll be able to give you an idea of how long it is going to take to visit your property based on your situation. Those most in need will be seen at once while those with minor damage may take a few weeks for us to get to.
To help speed up the process: If you have access to your own tradespeople who can begin the reinstatement of your home, we’re happy to work with them to approve the necessary repairs. A detailed quote and photos will be extremely helpful. If the quote appears fair and reasonable, we may be able to cash settle the claim immediately without needing to visit the property. This will allow you to progress the claim at your own pace.
For badly affected properties: MPS will do an initial assessment and can arrange for properties to be commercially dried. MPS can also assist with removing damaged items such as contaminated carpet and underlay. But you don’t need to wait for MPS to call to remove carpets and wall linings – if you have access to a qualified tradesperson, go ahead and arrange that. Just provide us with before and after photos and a detailed invoice from the tradesperson. Once the property has been dried, the MPS Project Manager will return to complete a full assessment of the work required, providing a written report. MPS will then work with you to bring tradespeople on board to provide quotes and complete the work within a reasonable timeframe – depending upon the tradesperson’s scheduling, and availability of materials.
My house is flooded. What can I start to do to clean-up?
Please make sure you are safe and wait for the flood waters to subside. When it is safe to do so, if you are able, you can undertake some basic clean-up activities and we will look to support you with suitably qualified contractors as soon as we can.
What do I do with things like carpets, contents etc?
Flood water that enters your property from the ground up, as opposed to through the roof or an internal overflowing water system, is likely to be contaminated water and so soft furnishings will be difficult to economically save. If you can, moving carpets and other waterlogged soft furnishings outside of the home will help to dry out the property. We can arrange disposal of these items as part of your claim.
For landlords, please note that carpets are usually only insured for indemnity value in tenanted properties and not replacement value.
For other items affected that can potentially be restored with cleaning and appropriate servicing, storing these somewhere safe and where there is protection from further damage is preferred if possible.
My refrigerated and frozen food has spoiled – what do I do?
You may dispose of any perishable items that are unsafe. Keep photographic evidence and let us know what the value of the food is. You may be required to provide an itemised list and a quote or invoice for reimbursement, although in most cases, if your claimed amount looks reasonable, we will reimburse you straight away.
What sort of timeframes should be expected during a large weather event?
Although it varies, delays should be expected across the entire process. Contacting us by phone will take longer, with wait times during peak call volumes often reaching 60 minutes or more. We appreciate your patience. Often the best course of action is to register your claim with us online. This saves you waiting in the phone queue and allows us to prioritise our most vulnerable customers.
Depending on the severity of damage at your home, the wait times for repairs can take a few months or more for the most damaged properties. If there is a land instability component to your claim, it can take much longer to allow the relevant experts to determine the solution for the property.
Is there anything I can do myself to get urgent repairs done?
If you have access to the right tradespeople, any urgent repairs to make the property safe and to help avoid any further loss or damage is permitted. You should take plenty of photos and provide a detailed invoice for the work that is done.
The work done should be the minimum amount needed to prevent further loss or damage. Any land related damage or work that requires an engineer should be referred to us in the first instance before any work is done.
What about non-urgent repairs? Can I go ahead with my own contractor?
If you have access to tradespeople, we can probably approve small repair jobs immediately (under $5000 usually) if we receive a good quality itemised quote that is supported by evidence like photos or damage reports. If the cost is higher but the job looks simple, we will look to take a pragmatic approach. If we can authorise it on the spot, we will.
How do we manage the repair process?
For more serious damage, the process will usually involve agreeing the scope of works with you and then selecting the right repairer who can manage the job to the right standard.
Our building project management partner is Morgan Project Services. To get an idea on how we jointly manage a large flood response, you can check out their process explanation here Flood damage (morganprojects.co.nz).
I can’t live in my property at the moment due to the damage. Where do I stay?
If you have home insurance with us, we can help you with the cost of temporary accommodation for your family and your pets if we agree that the home is uninhabitable.
What if my home is not damaged but I am prevented from accessing it?
Your temporary accommodation cover includes situations where you cannot access the property due to local or government authorities preventing access due to possible or impending damage to your home.
My car has been submerged – what happens next?
Do not drive any vehicles that have been submerged. We can have them towed to our storage area for assessment. If you need to move vehicles out of the way urgently, please move them to the nearest safe spot that you can and we can take it from there. And don’t forget to remove your contents from the vehicle first.
If your vehicle has already been towed by the authorities, let us know where and we can sort it out for you.
Most submerged vehicles are likely to be a total loss. The general process for a total loss will be to agree with you the value of the vehicle and the amount payable to you. The vehicle will then be disposed of with any salvage value retained by us.
Disclaimer – The information on this page is of a general nature only and intended to provide guidance about how your claim may be managed. The steps which will be taken to manage your particular claim will depend upon your individual circumstances and your policy wording. Please refer to your policy wording for full details of your insurance cover. If you are in doubt about what you should do, speak to your Broker or contact Vero on 0800 800 134.
