After the flood disaster - do insurance companies want to avoid making payments?
Partners in need, that's how insurers like to advertise themselves. But what flood victims of the Ahr are currently experiencing is far from it. There is a suspicion that insurance companies are trying to underestimate damage.
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| After the flood disaster - do insurance companies want to avoid making payments? |
Nine months after the flood, those affected from the Ahr Valley speak of intrigues with a view to their elementary insurers. They complain that they feel betrayed by insurance companies and that no one even tries to talk to them.
Dispute over 200,000 euros
Jürgen Küchler is in a clinch with the insurance company. For weeks he has been arguing with Direct AS about how to rebuild. His residential building in Altenburg an der Ahr had to be demolished immediately after the flood, so there was nothing left to save. But before he can rebuild his house, it must be clarified what will happen to the ramshackle barn attached to his old house. The insurance appraiser says the barn can be rebuilt.
Architect Markus Blasweiler, who has been advising residents in the Ahr Valley for around eight months, sees things differently. He has doubts as to whether the ground under the barn is still stable. The lower building authority has already strictly forbidden entry - due to the risk of collapse.
Mark Kreuzberg is also very frustrated. On the night of the flood, the water was up to his chest on the first floor. His insurance company, R&V from Wiesbaden, has offered 250,000 euros for the reconstruction, but that is obviously far too little. His architect estimates the renovation costs at at least 450,000 euros.
A dubious offer
That one or the other insurance company tries to underestimate the elementary damage to their customers' houses. Markus Gerd Krämer, a specialist lawyer for insurance law, told SWR that insurers had suggested that the insured could get the difference to the actual costs from the state reconstruction fund.
That's what the insurance companies say
SWR asks Mark Kreuzberg's R&V insurance company whether they follow these considerations. The insurance company resolutely rejects this: "R+V's elementary damage insurance replaces the damage in full at replacement value, regardless of state benefits. State benefits are therefore not part of our consideration."
Jürgen Küchler's insurance company, on the other hand, agrees to carry out a further examination when asked and admits: "Since the cost estimate for the new construction of the barn is now also available, we had to determine that the cost difference between the implementation of 'demolition and new construction' and 'renovation of existing Barn' is serious."
Unrealistic price assumptions
But how can there be completely different estimates of the costs, as in the case of Kreuzberg? Architect Markus Blasweiler explains that, for example, the prices for raw materials stated in the reports are often far from reality. He is also critical of the experts commissioned by the insurance companies. They are of course obliged to their clients. "We always have the same disputes, we keep asking the same questions and we just don't get anywhere with the insurers' external experts.
Finance Minister Doris Ahnen (SPD) told SWR when asked that she had heard of insurers trying to pass the costs on to the state. She recommends that those affected seek advice from the information points in the Ahr Valley in the event of discrepancies with the insurance company. Incidentally, an independent report is necessary in order to receive state aid - the country has taken precautions.
Jürgen Küchler suffers from the procedure. The procedure with his insurance makes him sad, he is appalled that "as a flood victim, as a survivor, he still has to go through with it." During the night of the flood, the Ahr stood up to the gutter, Küchler squatted on the roof and feared for his life.