Co-operators adjusting coverage in Cape Breton
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An insurance company says it’s cancelling hundreds of clients’ coverage in Cape Breton and northern New Brunswick because the number of fire-related claims is soaring.
Leonard Sharman of Co-operators General Insurance Company said that about 1,600 people around Glace Bay, N.S., have been told they will have to reapply for insurance when their current coverage expires.
He said the company has already paid out $13.3 million in fire losses alone for the two areas in the first seven months of this year. Sharman said about 67 per cent of claims expenses on home incidents have been related to fire, which is far and away out of whack compared to the rest of the country. Sharman said the company is adjusting plans for people in parts of Cape Breton and an area in northern New Brunswick around Bathurst because of the high number of fire claims. Coverage will now be on the market value of the house rather than on a replacement cost.
But it will likely mean insurance rates will increase and clients will have to hire inspectors to check their wiring and heat sources in their homes.
