Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - New ways for big insurance companies to conduct home inspections such as drones taking aerial photos of properties are raising validity, accuracy and security questions for those who have had their homeowners insurance claims denied or not renewed as a result.
Joelle Maranto, VP of Maranto Agency based in Williamsville says that this practice being utilized by insurance carriers is a fairly-new practice, having only been around less than a year. She says about 30-40 percent of the 20 insurance carriers the her agency works with utilize drone or aerial shots.
"It's becoming more popular, not all of my companies are doing it at this time. Some of my companies actually gave us the way to go do that before we bind or book a policy so we can proactively do some of that searching on our own before we submit it to the company. Not all of my companies are doing it, some are still going out and doing their own inspections. But I think that's going to be part of the past," explained Maranto.
Maranto also details that aerial photos being taken of homes have the technology to estimate for instance, how strong someone's roof is, which is a technological advancement that could save an insurance agency time and money.
However, some are raising concerns of accuracy.
Cindy Pico told the Wall Street Journal that her insurance was dropped after aerial photos showed that her roof was not up to code. And despite an independent inspector confirming that her roof was good for at least another decade, her insurance provider still did not rectify the situation, and wouldn't share the report that denied her insurance in the first place.
This story, upon others referenced in other news articles, raises a question of transparency. Should insurance companies be allowed to deny insurance based on photos of technology that is still evolving?
Attorney William Hallett of the J. Michael Hayes law firm in Buffalo says that's a question that should be posed to legislators.
"Insurers do have the right to know what risks they're insuring against. And at the same time, consumers should have the right to know how insurers will assess that risk. And that right there is a question for the legislature. Can the legislature require insurers to be more transparent about their denials of coverages and determinations made by aerial footage? Sure. Could the legislature end up making decisions based on unmanned aerial vehicles or drone footage illegal for insurance companies? They sure could. But that's not something that I'm currently seeing in the law."
Marantano notes that reports can be shared with those applying or currently under homeowners insurance.
"We've received a memo that, [for example,] if a roof had issues or there was debris or they needed things fixing, we can request a copy of those photos, and we could share that with our customer."
Marantano also notes that aerial photographs are the future.
"I think that they're going to be a very important tool for the insurance companies. And, you know, 50% of me likes the idea and sometimes I don't because they -like you had mentioned earlier- they're not always 100% accurate, which then just means both the agent and the consumer has to do a little extra work to prove otherwise if they're incorrect."