Pay extra and you can be insured against elements

Dubai/Abu Dhabi: The recent rash of storms has inflicted damage on cars, homes and health, testing the limits of a person's insurance policy.

Inefficient drainage in the country's infrastructure, especially in many areas in Sharjah, caused rainwater to flood roads, creating miniature lakes. Vain attempts to drive through the city have led to many seeking repairs to damaged electric systems and stalled engines.

While many owners opt for third-party liability, the damage caused by unexpected weather conditions leaves them in hot water.

Tobin Itty, a claims officer at Al Ittihad Al Watani, a UAE-based insurance provider, said that the company provides coverage for weather damage but only about five per cent of its customers use it.

"The coverage adds 20 per cent to the premium. It's more money and not many people use it," Itty said.

Those with natural disaster coverage can claim damages from the police, who will include the cause in their report — be it rain or floods.

"It's like a normal procedure. When we get the claim we tow the car to a workshop or dealer depending on the policy," he said.

Higher premium

Meanwhile, comprehensive insurance policies are not exactly comprehensive unless all options are taken up, inevitably driving up the premium.

Rain damage to cars is an "act of God" in insurance parlance and these damages are not covered in a comprehensive insurance policy on cars, executives told Gulf News yesterday.

"Damages caused to the car by hailstorms and rain are not covered under the comprehensive insurance policy. The liability for the damage rests with the car owner in these cases," said one executive.

However, he said, if the car skids off the road due to rain and collides with another car, object or person, then the liability to pay for the damages lies with the company.

According to them, there are two types of car insurance available in the UAE — comprehensive and third-party.

While a comprehensive policy covers damage to one's own vehicle and third-party damage, third-party insurance covers only third-party liabilities. For both policies, the cover runs for 13 months.

A person who has comprehensive insurance has the option to pay an additional Dh120 premium for personal accident cover for the driver. Every other car passenger can be covered for a premium of Dh30 each.

Therefore, for a car with a seating capacity of five, including the driver, the personal accident cover would cost Dh120 for the driver and Dh120 for the passengers.

Buildings and property

Many buildings in the country are not built to withstand rain and stormy weather conditions. Weather not being a frequent threat, property or content insurance is also minimal in the country, according to Sayed Mohammed Arif, a claims officer at Aman Insurance.

"Fortunately, we haven't received many claims for these rains. Just a few," he said.

Arif said the company offers property insurance that covers floods and other weather damage. The premium in case of property coverage varies on a case-by-case basis and varies from 0.5 to 1.5 per cent of the overall value, he said.

"If someone owns a property, they want coverage for it, but if they are renting it, they will only want the contents to be covered," Arif said.

He said the premium on the contents depends on the requirement of the customers and also the value of their possessions.

Under one insurance providers' Household Contents Policy, items that can be insured include electronic goods, jewellery and furniture. However, to get the claim passed by the insurer, the insured person has to establish that there was a natural disaster, burglary or forcible entry into the house and has to submit his claim to the insurance company along with the police report.

Insurers said under their Household Contents Policy, if the value of the declared household items is Dh1 million, the annual premium could be as low as 1 per cent of the value of the items declared.