Notting Hill Interiors
Notting Hill Interiors is a furniture shop located in Tirau which sells furniture and homeware. They also sell a range of clothing. They have 3 different stores on the main street of Tirau and meet the interior needs of the local farming community. They are also a popular stopping point for the high volume of passing traffic on State highway 1.
What Happened?
In 2018 a truck crashed into the building and caused significant damage to the front of the building and to the stock stored in this part of the building. This claim had not been settled when In October 2021 there was a fire which destroyed the building, and all the stock stored in the building.
The Damage
The building was no longer tenantable and new office and storage space had to be found as although the damaged building was not part of the retail space it was where the office staff worked and where the bulk of the stock was stored.
The fire meant there was no back up stock to meet the usual pre-Christmas demand. The usual level of sales could not be achieved. The usual Autumn sale could also not be held.
How Long was the Business Interrupted?
The business experienced a level of interruption from the date of the truck crash in 2018 which was caused by the difficulty with reaching a settlement. They were unable to make the repairs to the building as the insurer could not agree on the value of the building damaged or the fixtures and fittings.
The back of the building was still being used for storage in 2021 when the fire happened. The loss of the stock and a storage space then caused further interruption to the business.
Other arrangements were made for storage and replacement stock was ordered but this all took time as much of the stock is made to order and imported. The business did not fully recover its turnover until October 2022, a year after the fire.
How Able Business Claims Helped
We reviewed the Truck Crash Claim and helped to identify exactly what fixtures should have been covered.
We reviewed the Fire Material Damage Claim and identified whether fixtures had been replaced before the fire or not and therefore whether they should be covered in the fire claim. We also prepared the Stock claim for the Fire by preparing a detailed analysis of the post fire and pre fire stocktakes and identifying exactly what stock had been lost.
We reviewed the turnover and made adjustment for Covid Interruptions and the Truck Crash Interruption to assess how the business would have grown had it not had the fire. We calculated the trend of the business and found that although they had experienced reasonable sales over the Christmas period immediately after the fire, they then began to feel the full effect of the lost stock and did not continue to function at the usual level. We were able to show a loss of turnover and reach a settlement with the insurer that meant the business could get back to where they would have been had they not had a fire.
Success!
Results
We finalised the Material Damage Claim regarding the Truck incident and estimated the additional costs caused by the delayed settlement of this claim.
We finalised the Stock Claim and we calculated the Business Interruption Claim. We helped the client reach a satisfactory settlement with their insurer.
This settlement has meant they have been able to relocate their warehouse and fully restock. They are now finally back on track after a very difficult and time consuming period of negotiations with their insurer. They have said they could not have done this on there own as the Loss adjuster seemed determined to delay settlement and cause ongoing confusion at every turn.
As a direct result of Able Business Claims work, the MD and BI claim were settled in October 2023 at over a million dollars.