Out of the total sum, around EUR 1.3 billion of this was attributable to motor vehicle damage caused by storms, hail and lightning. The remaining EUR 400 million were caused by flooding, GDV said emphasizing that last year "storms in Germany caused almost twice as much damage as the average."
"On a long-term average, around 390,000 insured vehicles are damaged every year, with the total loss amounting to around EUR 900 million. Two extreme weather events are responsible for the high level of damage last year: the series of storms in June and the flash flood in July in the Ahr valley".
According to GDV, vehicles on the Ahr and Erft were particularly hard hit by the flood disaster. Motor insurers paid almost EUR 400 million for 50,000 claims, water causing, in most cases, total damage to engines, electronics and the entire vehicle interior. The regional GDV natural hazard balance for 2021 with regard to flooding shows the region Rhineland-Palatinate as recording the highest rate of damage reports per 1,000 comprehensively insured vehicles of 4.1.
As for storm and hail, they caused severe damage to motor vehicles especially in southern Germany. With an average of 19.9 damage reports per 1,000 vehicles with comprehensive insurance, drivers in Baden-Wurttemberg were hit hardest. In fact, the severe hail episodes brought by the storms in June 2021, causing losses estimated at EUR 700 million. As such, this is "the fourth largest hail damage for motor vehicle insurers since statistics began," Asmussen said. At over two billion euros, the "Munich hail" of 1984 is the most expensive event to date, adjusted for inventory and price.
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