We read this report from Crawford & Company about escape of water and thought some of the statistics were really insightful. This may be of interest to some of our brokers as an explanation from industry experts of price increases when clients have not personally experienced a claim.
For example, the cost of escape of water (EOW) claims is rising – with a 33% increase between 2014 and 2017. A key driver for this is the amount of water flowing through properties – more bathrooms, more shower rooms, more plumbed in kit, more claims. This is just as true for commercial properties such as offices, which may have more plumbed in dishwashers and hot water taps such as Qwooker.
Crawford say that 32.4% of EOW claim costs relate to flooring – this is likely to be even higher for Hiscox claims, because our policyholders are more likely to have expensive carpets and tiling that need replacing. Decorating costs are 27% of the whole – with a Hiscox claim, we typically won’t just patch up the damaged area and paint over that one wall, we will repaint the whole room to ensure consistency of colour and finish.
Whilst your client may not have experienced a claim, the overall rate of claims is increasing due to more water in properties, and the cost of those claims is increasing due to use of more expensive fixtures and fittings.
You can read the full Crawford & Company: Data Driven - Escape of water report here.