When Joan Van Kuren of Modesto got a notice from her insurance company stating they would not renew her home insurance policy, she was shocked to learn why. California insurance provider CSAA — part AAA’s insurance company — stated they discovered a “substantial increase in hazards” piling around her home
They made this discovery not from making a surprise property inspection, but instead from aerial images allegedly taken from a drone.
“She said they [CSAA] flew a drone over the home,” Van Kuren told CBS Sacramento of her call with a customer service representative. “It almost feels like someone’s looking in your windows, you know, when they tell you that they flew a drone over your home and looked at it. It’s like, whoa.
Van Kuren wasn’t the only one to have this treatment. ABC 7 San Francisco reports CJ Sveen received a similar notice due to aerial images taken of his home. In Northern California, The Wall Street Journal says Cindy Picos also got a notice after her insurance company said her roof was in poor condition. The insurance company in both situations? CSAA.
When contacted by CBS Sacramento, CSAA denied they used drones to survey covered homeowners, and instead claimed they use “proprietary aerial imagery” of homes to make risk decisions. Are digital home inspections the wave of the future? If your home insurance company says they want to cut your insurance over concerns, here’s what you need to know.
Are insurance companies spying on your home with drones?
In an increasing number of cases, insurance companies are using eyes in the skies to not only determine the condition of insured homes, but to assess damages once a natural disaster comes through. State Farm Insurance claims to be the first company to use drones in 2015, when they partnered with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership at Virginia Tech to begin inspecting homes.
Since then, drones are becoming increasingly popular for insurance applications. Information technology consultant Cognizant says drones are used for property and casualty insurance applications to “capture details of a location or building and obtain useful insights during claims processing or risk assessments.” This improves business lines in three different ways: Cognizant says drones can improve efficiency and create additional accuracy, lead to closing claims faster and improved safety for their employees.
Using a drone for an insurance inspection is not illegal in the State of California. ABC 7 San Francisco notes that unless you are using a drone to be a “Peeping Tom,” it’s legal to fly over homes and take videos. Other city and state laws may vary depending on the location.
However, an insurance company doesn’t necessarily need to fly an unmanned vehicle over your home to make an assessment based on aerial images. Over 40 insurance companies are subscribers to the Geospatial Insurance Consortium (GIC), including Amica, Auto-Owners Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Progressive and USAA. The group offers multiple aerial imagery products with one goal: “build the largest, most comprehensive and current library of geospatial data available and ready for the everyday or disaster event need of the insurer.” In the case of CSAA, they claim data gained in part from this program led to their decisions to drop the three California homeowners.
What can I do if my insurance company drops me over aerial photos?
Insurance non-renewal is different from insurance cancellation. While insurance companies can choose to cancel your service due to not paying premiums or committing insurance fraud, non-renewal is a business decision to simply not renew your policy when it ends.
No matter where you live, your insurance company must provide you with advance notice of their intention to not renew your homeowners insurance policy and provide a reason why. Each state has different rules — for the cases above in California, insurance companies must provide at least 45 days notice before the insurance policy ends.
If you disagree with the insurance company’s decision to drop your coverage, you have options to appeal the decision. You can either call the company’s consumer affairs division and ask for their evidence and offer to provide your own counter-evidence. If that avenue goes nowhere, you can file a complaint with your state’s insurance regulator. A guide to every state’s insurance authority can be found on the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website.
In any situation, now is an important time to start shopping and comparing insurance policies. Working directly with insurance providers and insurance agents can help you find new coverage at either a similar price or coverage level, preventing a gap in coverage which could cost even more due to insurance penalties.
English 
