It is still early to assess the damage caused by DANA, which has flooded houses, roads, train tracks, crops, knocked down bridges and caused nearly 60 deaths – which are confirmed at this time – but it is evident that The compensation will be in the millions.. Precisely for this reason, the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, has assured that the Insurance Compensation Consortium is “prepared” to begin the work of quantifying the damages and granting the corresponding aid “as soon as possible.”
The Consortium compensates for damages caused by extraordinary events such as floods, atypical storms, earthquakes and tidal waves. Even so, there is a procedure that policyholders must follow, which is why today the consumer organizations Facua and OCU have issued separate statements in which they remind that Damage must be reported as soon as possible and they advise that all documentary evidence that can be collected of the defects be delivered to the company.
“The policyholder or the insured or the beneficiary must notify the insurer of the occurrence of the incident within a maximum period of seven days of becoming aware of it, unless a longer period has been established in the policy”; That is the literal meaning of Law 50/1980, of October 8, on Insurance Contracts, a nuance that the Facua organization recommends that its users take into account.
The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), has also recalled that, in the case of extraordinary damages, the Compensation Consortium is responsible for compensation for people, vehicles and homes, as long as they are previously insured.
«It is worth knowing that (the Consortium) applies waiting periods (for example, in certain cases 7 days from the validity of the first policy or the following ones). if there are periods in between without coverage) and compensates only as contracted in the private policy,” the OCU recalled.
The Consortium only protects if there is insurance contracted
As has already been said, the law establishes that the Consortium must compensate extraordinary events, but again, Facua remembers that there are particularities to take into account. The most important, that Only those damages that affect people or property for which insurance has been taken out are compensable. in any authorized insurance company, and as long as the policy is in force at the time the damage occurs and the insured is up to date with the payment of the premium,” reads the Consortium’s website.
In the case of direct material damage, the rule establishes that the policy of the person who is going to claim must include coverage for any of the following risks: fire, theft, glass breakage, damage to machinery, electronic equipment, computers or modalities. combinations of them. Damage to the car, according to the information collected on the public body’s website, will be compensated regardless of the coverage contracted.
Regarding personal injuries (injuries, death, disability…), which in this case will not be few, the rule establishes that Subjects will be subject to compensation if the contracted policy covers the risk of accidents.either individually or in combination with other coverage, or the life insurance that exclusively or mainly guarantees the risk of death.
Something similar happens with the loss of profits, which will be compensated if this risk is expressly found in the policy and is a direct consequence of direct damage to insured property that is the property or is at the disposal of the insured.
The importance of taking photographs of the damage
As already stated, the consumer organization has advised users to provide photographs of all the damage as documentation, taking into account that it is not advisable to touch the damage until an expert from the Consortium comes to inspect the damage. At the same time, if a public body requires the affected person to carry out some action (such as removing a vehicle from a road), it is recommended, explains Facua in its statement, to request a certificate, notarial act or other official document where the actual status is recorded. of the damages suffered.
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