Don't Sell Yourself Short On Insurance

That’s the strong advice from Julie Clark, a Rural Contractors New Zealand (RCNZ ) board member, who with her husband John runs a contracting business in Ōtorohanga which  was hit hard in February’s flood.

The company is now amid the maize harvest as well as undersowing, spraying and ground cultivation.

Julie says it’s been a very busy few weeks for her staff after the mid-February deluge saw up to 300 millimetres of rain dropped on the town in a few hours.

John and their son Matthew both drove tractors around midnight on Friday February 13 to rescue family and friends from the rising flood waters and returned them to their home on Kio Kio Station Rd in water about 1.5m deep.

At dawn, they were all evacuated to higher ground with the water having reached 1m high in their nearby workshop.

Julie rang her local insurance agent on the Saturday morning and started lodging multiple claims for the couple’s own home, that of their son, workshop contents and stock, cars and machinery.

She asked the agent who was away in the South Island, to come on Monday to see the damage. He was later supported by two assessors. In the interim she took photos.

“We had a dozen of our 15 tractors affected with four having to be transported to town. The staff from Giltrap AgriZone and Waikato Tractors were great in getting the gear sorted and mobile.”

The repair costs started at $5,000. One vehicle was written off as was anything electrical in the workshop. In the compound, hay and silage wrap was lost among other stock.

Julie and John have been on the property for 30 years and considered they were outside any flood risk.

“If you’d asked me if I would have a claim on a flood, I would have laughed at you.”

The flooded farm.

Now her insurer is working through seven different claims. She is grateful the company has, at her request, appointed a dedicated person to work with her rather than having to deal with multiple staff.

Julie says the total cost will run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and she expects most, though not all of this, will be covered.

She says rural contractors need to check they have full, comprehensive insurance.

“While it’s been a very trying time, we’ve had the support of our family and our friends. Our staff have also been amazing with all the hard work they put in cleaning up the damage.

“We also knew we had full cover with an insurer we’ve been with for a long time. Without all that, we’d have been knocked flat rather than being up and running again.

“I’m urging all RCNZ members to dig out that policy and check it gives you the cover you might need.”