Technology ‘of the future’ helps policyholders today

Hail data, shown in red and yellow, overlays
policyholder locations, shown as dots.

When your home or business is damaged by a hail storm, you deserve a prompt response from your insurance company to assess the damage and process your claim so that repairs can begin as soon as possible.

• What if your insurance company could track hailstorms and know immediately how many policyholders might be affected, helping it to assign extra resources to process claims quickly?
• What if your insurance company had the ability to determine the size of hail that struck any given location within the past five years?
• Imagine how the use of aerial data could help the company write detailed roof repair estimates.

While this may sound like science fiction, you don’t need to stretch your imagination. The technology to do all these things is being used today by The Cincinnati Insurance Company and by many other insurers. When technology is used in combination with personal service from a locally based claims professional, policyholders receive a better claims experience.

Hail analysis technology – combined with policyholder databases – can help determine the number of policyholders in a geographical area that may have hail-related claims. This is especially important in catastrophe situations so that your insurance company can deploy a sufficient number of insurance claim professionals to process claims.

Hail analysis and verification technology can accurately determine the size of hail that struck the ground at a given location. This knowledge, in conjunction with an on-site property inspection, determines whether a structure suffered damage by hail or some other cause.

High-resolution aerial imaging can provide pictures showing all of the roof’s dimensions – data that can be downloaded into a claim estimating system. This process provides a detailed repair estimate, enabling a policyholder to receive a settlement check more quickly.

Having this information available helps thwart unscrupulous roofing companies from taking advantage by pressuring homeowners into signing contracts to repair a roof when there is no damage. By reducing potential payments on fraudulent claims, the technology helps contain insurance costs for everyone.

Submitted by Marty Skidmore for The Cincinnati Insurance Companies