Fury as home insurance companies cancel coverage after secretly taking pictures ... trends now
Insurance companies have been accused of canceling coverage after covertly capturing images of homeowners' properties using drones, high-altitude balloons and even manned airplanes.
Cindy Picos, a resident of Auburn, California, said she was dropped by her home insurer, CSAA Insurance, after they obtained aerial photos of her roof, as reported by WSJ.
She was even denied access to view the photos, as she said in frustration 'I thought they had the wrong house. Our roof is in fine shape.'
Her experience echoed the sentiments and anger felt by other homeowners, including Marilyn Smith and CJ Sveen, whose policies were rejected after the insurance company monitored their homes via drone.
It's not uncommon for insurance companies to use technology like drone surveillance and high-altitude balloons to look for risks, sometimes without the owner's knowledge.
Insurance companies have been accused of canceling coverage after covertly capturing images of homeowners' properties using drones, high-altitude balloons, and even manned airplanes
Cindy Picos, a resident of Auburn, California, said she was dropped by her home insurer, CSAA Insurance, after they obtained aerial photos of her roof
Her experience echoed the sentiments and anger felt by other homeowners, including Marilyn Smith and CJ Sveen, whose policies were rejected after the insurance company monitored their homes via drone
Geospatial Insurance Consortium, a company providing aerial imagery and geospatial information to insurers, says its airplane imagery program covers 99 percent of the U.S. population.
'We've seen a dramatic increase across the country in reports from consumers who've been dropped by their insurers on the basis of an aerial image,' said Amy Bach, executive director of consumer group United Policyholders.
In Picos' case, CSAA asserted that her roof had reached its life expectancy, but according to an independent inspection, it had at least ten more years of life, she said.
The insurer refused to reconsider their decision, and Picos was never given the opportunity to review the images.
A spokesperson of CSAA said the company has updated policy to allow homeowners to review images upon request. DailyMail.com has reached out to the company for further information.
Other Californians' policies were cancelled in similar circumstances, for example, Smith
