2013,A year to remember.

Wow!! What a fast year! Yes I know it had the same number of days and hours as the rest (barring leap years) but this just seemed to go like a runaway train! There really was little chance to gain some breath this year as we went through a period of dramatic growth and handled a difficult year for our clients in regards to claims.

Let's look back at an eventful 2013.

After a few weeks off and a very mild Christmas period we walked straight into the tail of a cyclone here on The Mid North Coast. The region as far south as The Hunter Region was hammered by cyclonic winds and rain that went "up" the walls of peoples homes. Yes we had a number of clients suffer damage from rain being pushed back up under Roof eaves and into sealant under window sils. 

The Insurer response on the whole to the 2 major events was rapid and well managed. For our part over 20% of our clients suffered some form of damage and lodged claims. Some clients had multiple and a handful of those are still being finalised. Armidale also suffered a swift moving storm with large hail stones.

But it didn't take long for the storm season to end and the rain to dry up. '2013 is the year Australia marked is hottest day, month, season, 12 month period and, by December 31, hottest calendar year.'
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/2013-australias-hottest-year-on-record-20131220-2zqpf.html#ixzz2o4b9L5Mr

As Winter turned into Spring mother nature took another cruel turn and intense heat and desert winds whipped up to bring NSW some of it's worst Bushfire's on record.

Temperatures throughout NSW rose to the 40's in October of all months. Towns were evacuated and property lost. The work of the NSW RFS and the SES has to be applauded once more. These people who themselves were worried about their own property ran head first into the worst of it to help the community. The clean up continues and will be ongoing for some time to come.

But once more, The Fires turned to Rain! Then the rain, turned to mini cyclones and hail. What is going on in this country!! Hornsby in Sydney's North West was hit by a mini cyclone that raised the roof on a number of buildings including a cinema and worksites. Sydney was hit by strong winds as was Newcastle and The Mid North Coast.

Then there was the Hail! Hail stones as big as Cricket balls fell on many major centres of The Mid North Coast throughout November. Port Macquarie was first hit, then Coffs Harbour, Grafton and Taree. From our own personal perspective this became one of the busiest claim events of our career. We were still working through a number of claims from the Summer and getting on top of them when these events struck. One of our clients who runs a fleet of rental cars was hit twice and has nearly half his sizable fleet of vehicles damaged. What makes this worse is the timing with Christmas a busy time for many industries.

I mean we could go on and on about other weather events and disasters throughout 2013 but it might get depressing. It was a year to forget for many people. Righto, let's look at the year for IAA Mid North Coast. Obviously it was mega busy from a claims perspective. Reality is this is why we are here! We take claims and protecting your business very seriously. Infact claims service and handling more of your claim then our competitors is one of our key objectives and boy it was tested this year. our clients have enjoyed our involvement within their business and the advice given.

Some key highlights. Well launching our Web page was a major one. In June we launched iaamidnorthcoast.com.au and ran an awareness campaign alongside it. A prize of an Ipad and one of a kind IAA Ipad cover was the prize and Nicky Stevens of Manning Valley Books had the win.

We also released our umbrellas as part of our branding. Clients love them and we now have a number of photos of our clients holding the umbrella. Some of them have even taken photos of the umbrella in exotic locations including National Parks in New Zealand and not so exotic locations as the Santa Clause run in Port Macquarie.

Whilst this is all a bit of fun the serious side of growing the business continued with new relationships forged throughout the region. Our push into Port Macquarie continues with sponsorship of Port Macquarie Hockey and a greater presence planned for 2014. Our tourism partnership continues to grow and provide opportunities. We also are enjoying partnering with clients to help each other. Recent joint client meetings have proven the value in working together to grow. This even extended into a speaking engagement at Taree Business Chamber with Megan Lewis of The Resolution Network.

We love our role within the Mid North Coast Community. This year we actively supported Taree AFL Auskick Centre, The Special Olympics, Taree Baptist Church and ministries, Wingham Akoostik Festival and various Business Chamber events.

So, time for a breather. Our office will be closed until Monday 13th January giving us time to recharge the batteries. Family is the most important thing to us and we are looking forward to Christmas with our girls plus extended family. Nik's sister and her husband are home from England which adds to the festivities. The annual Coopers Cup will also be played, this year at "Royal" Club Taree. Will the challengers of JT and Steve Crawford get within reach of the 'Ol' Master who has held it for 2 years now.

For you reading our blogs throughout the year we hope you have obtained some valuable knowledge from them. They are not only a way of going deeper into a topic but of keeping business people informed of points within their business they may not have considered. We will continue in 2014 with them and always enjoy getting your feedback. On behalf of our entire family, thank you for your support. Have a Merry Christmas. We look forward to partnering with you again in 2014.