About 90 percent of vehicles damaged by falling trees or flying debris during Typhoon Soudelor will not be covered by iansurance, as less than 10 percent of cars in Taiwan are insured against weather damage, according to a local media report.
Non-Life Insurance Association director Tai Ying-hsiang (戴英祥) was quoted by the Chinese-language China Times as saying that the three major types of car insurance in the nation do not cover damage caused by natural disasters, and only those whose insurance covers weather damage can make a claim for storm damage.
Among the storms that have ravaged the nation, Typhoon Nari in 2001 was the most expensive for the insurance sector, which paid out more than NT$10 billion (US$314.86 million) in weather damage claims, builder’s risk insurance claims and business insurance claims, Tai said.
The percentage of car owners with typhoon insurance has been low, as there have been few major typhoons in recent years. Coverage for storm damage is a policy that must be added to a general vehicle insurance scheme, while the premium for typhoon insurance is usually included in that of the vehicle insurance, he said.
“However, more car owners might be considering typhoon insurance after Typhoon Soudelor,” Tai was quoted as saying.
Current typhoon insurance schemes compensate car damage from falling trees, flying debris or floods, he said, adding that the annual premium and maximum coverage for domestically produced vehicle are NT$4,000 and NT$500,000 respectively, while those for an imported car are NT$8,000 and NT$1 million.
Those amounts can cover repairs to most vehicles, unless the car is not salvageable and needs to be replaced, he said.
Tai said that Typhoon Soudelor could cost the government more, as it has to pay for the cleaning and replanting of thousands of trees felled by the typhoon.
The government has paid little attention to the environmental engineering insurance promoted by the insurance industry, but the government would have been well-protected had it taken out such insurance, he said.
The Financial Supervisory Commission said that there are multiple low interest rate loan schemes available at 24 Taiwanese banks to provide disaster loans, including personal, housing and corporate loans to typhoon victims to carry out post-disaster reconstruction, according to the report.
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