Cars still stuck in SkyCity basement, more than two weeks after fire

Friday, 8 November 2019

The cars trapped in the flooded basement of the SkyCity Convention Centre are still there and are now sitting in 300mm of mud.

Cars belonging to SkyCity employees are still stuck in the basement of the flooded convention centre more than two weeks after a three-day fire started, insurers say.

Firefighters battled a blaze on the roof of the SkyCity Convention Centre from 1.10pm on October 22 to 24, when it was eventually declared under control.

The millions of litres of water used to extinguish the fire resulted in several basement layers being flooded, in particular the level four where many SkyCity employee cars were parked.

AA Insurance confirmed that although the cars had not yet been retrieved from the basement, it had taken steps to settle claims with customers covered by car insurance policies.

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Millions of litres of water were used to extinguish the SkyCity blaze, which started on October 22 at 1.10pm.

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* Millions of litres of water in flooded SkyCity centre car park to head into wastewater system

* Hazard alert issued as filthy water from Auckland SkyCity fire pumped into harbour

* SkyCity convention centre fire: Contaminated Auckland harbour mud to be entombed in concrete**

'The cars had contaminated water up past their doors, and are now sitting in 300mm of mud,' a spokesperson said.

'Of the 29 claims, 23 have already been settled, 3 have been offered settlement. The remaining 3 are progressing towards settlement.'

Simon Hobbs, head of claims, said the usual practice would be to wait until the cars were out of the basement to assess damage and then settle.

But, because there was no way to know how long the cars were going to be stuck, the decision was made to settle claims straight away.

Hobbs said the excess had also been waived, with the hope AA Insurance could reclaim from the SkyCity's insurers.

'People can't survive without their cars and we thought this is the right thing we can do for our customers,' he said.

'A car that gets that wet is considered a write-off. You don't ever want to give a car back to a customer a car like that – for safety and electronic reasons.'

Claims ranged from under $10,000 to around $60,000, as one of the cars was a brand new, 2019 Audi A4.

'The owner of the Audi was really happy we paid him out,' Hobbs said.

Initially, it was thought the eight million litres of contaminated water would be pumped into the Waitemata Harbour and become an environmental hazard.

However, Auckland Council Safeswim programme manager Nick Vigar said the next day it was safe enough to be pumped into the wastewater network.

'We don't take it lightly to pump it out into the environment. As soon as we can stop that, we will,' he said at the time.

SkyCity was approached for comment. In a tweet dated October 24, SkyCity confirmed it would 'cover costs as a result of water damage and employees will be fully compensated for damage to their vehicles'.