Hundreds of North Queensland residents had saved more than $340,000 in home insurance costs in the past two years after proactively cyclone-proofing their homes.
In 2016, RACQ introduced home insurance premium discounts of up to 20% to roughly 700 members in North Queensland who cyclone-proofed their homes by performing cyclone-resilience works, including:
- opening protection, such as roller-door bracing and window shutters
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roof strapping, including tying down roof battens to trusses and rafters, timber roof battens to rafters and roof trusses to wall frames
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over-batten systems, where steel plates are fitted over the roofing material and held down to the foundations, outside the main walls, by tie rods and turnbuckles
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complete roof replacement
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complete retrofit of pre-1985 homes to current building code
“The affordability of insurance has been a major community concern, and we’re pleased we’ve been able to help make premiums more affordable for people in the region,” said Kirsty Clinton, RACQ spokesperson. “North Queensland residents need to be recognised for strengthening their homes against cyclones. Since introducing this discount, members who took action to reduce their cyclone risk have saved on average $421 – or 15% – off their annual building-and-contents insurance bill. One resident even managed to shave more than $1,500 off their premium.”
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