The Leader of the People’s Democratic Movement, Hon. Edwin Astwood has released a statement that homeowners in the TCI are being blindsided by underinsurance or no insurance on their properties.
In particular, on the islands of Grand Turk and Salt Cay, residents woke up to the reality that their houses are underinsured. They are being blindsided by terms like rate of replacement, reinsurance, average clause, underwriting the market rate for goods and services, and replacement value.
Many of our people are being told by the adjusters working for the insurance companies that their property is undervalued and/or underinsured. Hence the value of their claim will have to be greatly reduced due to those aforementioned factors.
Some persons expressed that they are also being told that the cost for labor and materials submitted by them are not at market rate, which is almost always lower than the amount in the claim. They also stated that they are being told which businesses they can solicit for quotes on the cost of labor and materials.
The experience of seeking a payout from insurance companies has been a stressful, disappointing, and eye-opening experience for many homeowners. Many expressed the feeling of being grossly uninformed and lacking needed knowledge about their insurance policies, especially those who got insurance through their banking institutions.
A common mistake that some homeowners make is not to insure their property for the full replacement value, thus creating the issue of underinsurance, and as a result, if an insured peril causes damage to the home or its contents are stolen, the claim may be subject to the application of the average clause.”
Insurance data points out that many homes in the Turks and Caicos are underinsured, with there also being many homes uninsured. That should be a major concern for the Government, the homeowners, and for the insurer, especially given that risks from climatic events such as hurricanes and flooding become more adverse annually.
The Leader states that Should the Turks and Caicos Islands experience a direct hit from a major hurricane, the uninsured and underinsured will experience a crippling financial loss, which in turn worsen the social and economical position of many of our people and communities.
