Insurance company drops customer saying a 'drone' took photos of clutter in yard

Just as wildfire season gets underway, homeowners insurance is becoming more and more scarce. Some companies aren't writing any new policies, while others are dropping longtime customers. Among them is an East Bay man who was told he lost his insurance -- based on photos taken by a drone over his property.

#drone #insurance #homeownership #yard #privacy #abc #abc7news

[josephs]

"We prefer the business model where we collect premiums forever, never pay a claim, and drop customers once we've milked enough money from them."

[nhansen]

I find this disturbing. Just the idea that an insurer is actively spying on people looking for excuses to cancel on them is really sketchy.

[truraza]

They backtracked when they realized they probably used an unlicensed employee to fly the drone.

[marshonmellows]

The government say you have to have insurance, but the insurance doesn't want to insure you. Makes sense

[haetienne]

Let’s be honest They aren’t assessing risk, they are looking for any way possible to drop coverage

[lauralangham]

Never filled a single claim in 15 years - that right there describes how ridiculous home insurance is. You pay and pay and pay and pay but then out of the blue they cancel you for no good reason.

[TTOS]

Insurance reform needs to happen fast. They're getting super rich by barely paying out. Car and home insurance are absolutely ridiculous nowadays.

[CruelViper]

He didn't even get a chance to speak to any one, No chance to clear out what the insurance deemed "a hazard".
As it normal should go is like this: "Hi I'm insurance [X] We like to inspect your property for hazards, as per our policy to inspect once every [Y] years of insurance"
Insurance company deems certain assets in his backyard to dangerous, please remove/store elsewhere. You got [Z] weeks to comply, else we have to cancel the insurance.
Home owner removes items, insurance makes a second checkup...succeeds. And we can go on.

But this is just ridiculous, from 1 photo they deemed this guy a lost cause. And goodbye.
And the fact they keep hiding the proof of evidence makes me suspicious they are actually infringing on some legal boundaries.

[jamiepatterson]

It was nice of them to name the insurance company. Bad publicity gives that company lots of coverage, pun not intended.

[LegendaryInfortainment]

Thank you for letting homeowners know that terminating insurance provided by CSAA probably is an exceptionally good idea.

[LikeBlowingintheWind]

This behavior needs to be illegal. And the CEO needs to go to jail.

[MrYoubrian]

I had a guy I met at the gas station in Boise, Idaho June 2022 tell me a very similar story. He claimed that a member of code enforcement flew a drone over his house and then notified his insurance company which then dropped his insurance. His MORTGAGE insurance. And he claimed that since he did not have insurance, the mortgage company said they were going to foreclose on the loan. I don't know whatever happened. Very scary stuff.
Allstate dropped me from my car insurance because of a credit check. I got a form letter from the VP of Allstate Auto insurance. Mom, dad and all 6 of us kids had Allstate since us kids could drive. We also had the very same agent. Since then I vowed to never buy from Allstate ever again in this lifetime and never have. That was 33 years ago.

[cdv]

If you're denied credit, by law you're entitled to know why - this insurance denial should be no different. I hope the insurance company gets sued and compelled to disclose the evidence

[javaskull]

For heavens sake, give homeowners fair warning of what is considered a risk BEFORE beginning this creepy surveillance action.

[jessicaberry]

This is beyond disturbing and even feels like an infringement of privacy.

[ejohnson]

Something must be going on if insurance companies are dropping customers and banks are hardly lending money at high interest rates!

[ciara]

There needs to be laws against this. This is so incredibly backhanded and dishonest.

[arthurfidas]

If insurance companies can just cancel their policies at a moments notice then we should have the right to opt out of mandatory insurance. Why pay thousands for insurance if when you finally need it they won’t insure you?

[sladesurfer]

we were insured by State Farm for 29 years. A pipe Burts in the bathroom and flooded the kitchen. State Farm sent their own guy to assess the damage and did the repair. After the repair was done. They cancelled our insurance. almost 30 years of paying monthly and filed 1 claim. They have no problem collecting money from us for 29 yrs then when it comes to actually use our insurance, they grudgingly paid and dropped us

[trashwebsite_user]

Going to go spell out something really inappropriate in my backyard for the drone people!😂