Halloween is now in the rear-view mirror. All kinds of things can come in the wake of this holiday. For homeowners, this can include cleaning up the house following Halloween parties, taking down the various spooky and pumpkin-themed decorations they had up and ensuring their kids don’t plow through all their Halloween candy too quickly. For insurance companies, it can include dealing with lots of claims, particularly crime-related claims.
Examples of crime-related property insurance claims include claims for thefts or property damage caused by vandalism. Data suggests that Halloween sees a jump in these types of claims. For example, numbers from Traveler’s Insurance indicate that crime-related claims go up 24 percent on this holiday.
When dealing with an influx of claims, such as property insurance claims related to crimes, it is important for insurers to give each claim proper attention and to properly look into and address the issues related to the claim.
Many different issues can come up in connection to crime-related claims, including issues regarding:
- Whether a given claim is covered by the insured’s policy.
- Whether the homeowner did anything that made the crime more likely to happen.
- Whether the damage claimed was actually caused by a crime.
- Determining how much in damage was caused by the crime.
- Collecting and analyzing evidence on the specific circumstances surrounding the crime and the damage it caused.
How these and other issues related to crime-related insurance claims are handled by an insurer can affect the insurer’s financial health and its overall legal situation.
Source: WREG, “Report: Crime-related insurance claims increase on Halloween,” Shay Arthur, Oct. 31, 2016
