Environmental events, at the top of the list of risks for 2018

In a previous post we mentioned the perspectives about climate change and its influence on weather events included in a Munich Re 2012 report. By then, it had been confirmed that a gradual increase of weather catastrophes like floods and storms, starting in 1980, was taking place, and their unpredictability was forcing insurance companies to pay more attention.

The statistics about damages caused by weather events like hail recorded during the following years, did nothing but confirm the tendencies foreseen by Munich Re. As a result of this compelling information, a rather generic document like Zurich 2018 Global Risk Report highlights the increase of weather related risks and places warning signals on these factors on its forecasts for 2018.

The five weather risks mentioned in the report (including hydrometeorological phenomena such as storms and floods) are above average in their probability and impact. The document draws a scenario that makes it essential for the companies to adopt a global mindset that understands the causes of such risks and knows how to get ready for them.

Numbers talk

These are not just simple hypotheses. In 2017, statistics placed natural catastrophes as the first cause of economic losses for insurance companies. The information provided by Munich Re shows that the devastating visits of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and María, have resulted in the highest disbursements made by insurance companies to this day. Total losses, including those that were not insured, amounted to $330,000 million, the second highest number ever recorded, only surpassed by the damages caused by a geological catastrophe, the earthquake that shook Japan in 2011.

In contrast with a previous average of 605 significant natural catastrophic events per year, during 2017 there were 710 episodes, a considerable increase that confirms the tendency and forecasts of more frequent extreme weather events for the years ahead.

The United States, a country that has been severely affected

Munich Re reflects the high impact of the United States in the general statistics. The US losses amounted to a 50% of the total, well over the previous 32%. The three hurricans we mentioned hit in a very hard way the states of Texas and Florida, and the severe storms of spring, with their usual delivery of hail, made the losses on the American soil even worse.

Aerial view of the Hyundai Plant in Alabama (USA)
Aerial view of the Hyundai Plant in Alabama (USA). This picture was included in the exhibition “Después del fin del mundo” (“After the end of the world”).

During 2017, Europe endured unusual April frosts that affected farmers, and Southern Asia suffered a monsoon rains season that that year lasted several weeks longer than usual.

Lever Touch’s answer to the growing environmental risks

In view of the data, it seems reasonable to expect a future with more extreme and unpredictable weather events. As a company of global prospects, Lever Touch has prepared an effective set of answers and solutions for 2018, an expectedly complicated year:

Our international structure in Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Argentina, and USA, together with more than 24 years of experience in the area, and the organizational effectiveness and technical capacity of Lever Touch are available to carmakers and insurance companies in need of a reliable partner. Our efficiency to deal with claims from hail, blizzards, and industrial pollution affecting large numbers of vehicles has been verified.

Our technicians use PDR techniques and paint micro repairs to achieve impeccable results and to minimize deadlines and inconveniences for the clients.

We are working hard to ensure that our US branch office is fully operational before the arrival of that time of the year when the hailstorms increase exponentially. The US Lever Touch office, in Miami, will offer solutions for the high number of claims caused by these phenomena in large areas of the country, and to repair dents on thousands of vehicles.

We have increased the effective use of our resources by promoting the capillarity of our presence in all Europe. Our knowledge is the result of our work, but also of the fluid communication with partners, clients, and employees. We make use of every means to keep our company open to innovation and ready to adopt the ideas that can enhance our services.

Finally, we are studying the implementation of service packages that will become true protective shields for vehicle owners against any weather related catastrophe. The repairs that take place on the bodywork of a car must be fast and efficient, minimizing the resulting inconveniences and using the most innovative and less intrusive techniques, aiming to preserve as much as possible, the original factory conditions.

In this way, growing in several different areas and covering all the risk situations, Lever Touch faces a year when precaution and weather foresight will become more necessary than ever before.