This photo shows cars submerged in a flooded road near Seoul’s Daechi subway station on Aug. 8, 2022. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The torrential rain that drenched the greater Seoul area resulted in thousands of cars being submerged, putting general insurance companies on alert.
A record-breaking downpour that swept through Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon last Monday resulted in 12 general insurance companies receiving 9,189 reports of submerged cars as of noon Thursday with the cost of damages reaching almost 127.3 billion won (US$97.7 million).
Among all submerged cars, 3,033 were luxury, high-end vehicles.
With numerous reports of expensive, foreign-made vehicles incoming, their estimated cost of damage (74.5 billion won) accounts for more than half of all damage costs.
Four major general insurance companies including Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, DB Insurance, Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance and KB Insurance received 6,526 reports of submerged cars as of noon Wednesday with the estimated cost of damage reaching 88.5 billion won.
“The reports came mostly from the Gangnam area, with a high concentration of luxury vehicles. Car insurance companies are panicking,” an official at a general insurance company said.
“A submerged vehicle is dealt as a total loss, which hurts the insurance companies, especially if the cars are expensive.”
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
