BATHURST HOLDEN

THE SCENARIO

The multi-million dollar car dealership located on the outskirts of Bathurst in the Central West of the state caught fire at 6am on a Monday morning.

The fire was started by a fault in the fax machine located in the spare parts office and spread to the showroom and part of the workshop before being stopped by the fire services but not before it had already destroyed the entire contents of the building including some high value vehicles and parts of the roof.

THE RESPONSE

At 8.30am, the Broker received a phone call from his client saying his car dealership had been severely damaged by fire.

At 8.45am the Broker called the dealer’s insurance company and advised them of the claim. He requested that an assessor be appointed immediately and obtained the name and contact details of the assessor.

By 11.30am the Broker was at the client’s premises and a full inspection was carried out along with the assessor just after the fire brigade secured the building. The Broker then advised the insurance assessor of the key areas of concern – in particular the need to relocate the administration and sales departments to portable buildings and restore the workshop to partial service so 3 of the 6 bays could operate, meaning the dealership could function as close to normally as possible.

The Broker contacted a computer company to secure new computers to keep the company functioning as the computer network had been destroyed. The power was redirected to the workshop and portable buildings on the day of the fire.

THE OUTCOME

A progress payment of $150,000 was paid on the Friday after the fire, after the insurance company accepted liability. Furthur progress payments were made as the full cost of replacement of stock and contents written off was determined.

16 weeks after the fire the building had been fully restored and was back to full operation.

4 weeks later the final figures were received for the cost of business interruption and the cheque was paid in full within 10 days of the receipt of these figures.

Final loss was $2.4 million, paid in full.