Tue, Oct 16, 2001 page17

• Insurance for flooding in demand

  UNDER SIEGE Taiwan residents, especially those living in flood-prone areas, are in the market for products that will cover their homes and autos

  • By Stanley Chou / STAFF REPORTER
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  With another typhoon approaching Taiwan, insurers are peddling new insurance policies to cover the growing consumer demand for typhoon and flood coverage for homes and vehicles.

  "Numerous inquiries for flood insurance have been coming since last month's Typhoon Nari, especially in areas such as Hsichi," said Chang Rai-yi (張瑞益), a manager at Taian Insurance Co's (泰安產物保險) fire insurance department.

  And with property insurance claims since the end of September totaling more than NT$8.9 billion, the increase in interest is only to expected to grow.

  According to Taian, the cost of insuring a typical apartment against flooding is NT$6,000 to NT$8,000 a year to cover the cost of a home fire insurance policy.

  Flood insurance is included in a variety of different insurance policies.

  For example, a 35-ping apartment valued at NT$3.5 million would cost the homeowner NT$2,000 a year to buy a fire insurance policy. If additional typhoon and flood coverage was required, the cost of that policy would increase by another NT$6,000 a year. The company has also introduced a custom insurance policy with residential typhoon and flood coverage only for NT$6,600 a year.

  Meanwhile with over 100,000 automobiles damaged by the flooding last month, property insurers are touting typhoon and flood insurance for vehicles as a "good investment."

  "The cost of insuring a NT$1 million car is NT$9,000 per year for typhoon and flood insurance, said Chen Chiu-ming (陳邱明), auto insurance department's section chief of Fubon Insurance Co (富邦產險). Fubon is one of the largest automobile insurers in Taiwan.

  That may be cheaper than the risks in some parts of Taipei County.

  "Insuring vehicles may be cheaper than the repairs which can cost NT$100,000 or more per vehicle," Chen said.

  Fubon Insurance Co is currently designing a new policy specifically for coverage of automobile damaged by flood.

  "We are proposing a new kind of auto insurance policy that only cover flood damage, it would cost much cheaper than traditional typhoon and flood insurance," Chen said.

  For example, if a car is worth NT$1 million, the owner can choose to buy coverage worth NT$200,000 for possible flood damage. Since the coverage is reduced, the cost of the policy is certain to be lower than a traditional policy.

  However, the new policy has not been approved by the Ministry of Finance yet and will not be available before the end of this year.

  "We have sent out the application to the ministry, and we expect the earliest time we can provide the new policy would be the end of this year," Chen said.

  "Part of the reason that we designed the new policy is that not many new buyers are opting for traditional flood coverage, and [its high] cost should be reason. That's why we want to design a new kind of policy to meet the requirements of local consumers," he said.
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