Insurance claim for storm damage.

shezza2

Hi all last Thursday 21st Dec we had some storm damage to tiles, on relaying to the claims guy on the phone phone he said I just need to check what the wind speed was for my postcode. Luckily I was ok by about 4 mph. But it got me thinking where do they get their info from? is it from the main Met office which is about 10 miles away, or is there a way that they can actually get the info for my postcode. And why isn't the position of the house taken into consideration my house is high up. 

Brie

I wouldn't even know where to begin with that!!

born_again

There are weather station all around the country.

Pop your postcode in here & it will bring up the closest.

https://coldweatherpayments.dwp.gov.uk/search.php

user1977

And I'm sure there are plenty of expert witnesses to hand if anybody wanted to debate the issue.

TELLIT01

Talk about 'postcode lottery' unless the information can be provided down to specific postcodes, not just a postcode area.  That is to say more accurate than GL54 for example which covers low lying and very hilly areas.

Annemos

It's a bit windy outside, right now! 

I came across this when I was researching Loss Adjusters for something else. It stuck in my mind, because I used to work for the Met Office, when I left school. 

This company is owned by Claims Consortium Group.

There are lots of automated weather stations, I believe. 

Here are two links for this company. I expect they are not the only one that does this type of work. 

https://www.weathernet.co.uk/who-we-are.php

https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/events/insurance-times-awards-2022-weathernet-uses-billions-of-postcode-specific-weather-data-to-clarify-claims-triage-for-insurers/1442772.article

DullGreyGuy

shezza2 said:

Hi all last Thursday 21st Dec we had some storm damage to tiles, on relaying to the claims guy on the phone phone he said I just need to check what the wind speed was for my postcode. Luckily I was ok by about 4 mph. But it got me thinking where do they get their info from? is it from the main Met office which is about 10 miles away, or is there a way that they can actually get the info for my postcode. And why isn't the position of the house taken into consideration my house is high up. 

it would be unusual for you to be 10 miles from a weather station in the UK.

It certainly can however be a point of debate and it really comes down to the definition of storm in your policy book which can vary significantly between insurers. There are plenty of Ombudsman cases where an insured states the closest weather station isn't the best proxy for their weather conditions because its in a valley whereas they are on a hill top and argue the 2nd closest station thats on a neighbouring hill top is a better proxy for their weather etc. 

Generally, but not exclusively, the cheaper your policy the tighter the definition will be.