Oklahoma’s insurance commissioner is pushing to restrict property insurers’ use of aerial images amid growing complaints about claims being denied and policies not being renewed based on the images, which can be inaccurate.
Commissioner Glen Mulready (R) is sponsoring legislation to bar insurers from using overhead imaging as the sole basis for denying claims, reducing coverage, or declining to write or renew policies.
Stung by financial losses from major storms and wildfires, insurers nationwide are increasingly using drones, aircraft and satellites to collect high-resolution imagery of the properties they cover. Insurers say the images identify conditions such as rotting rooftops or flammable foliage that help them decide whom to cover and at what price.
Aerial imagery is “one of the tools in the toolkit that the [insurance] industry is needing to employ to make this business viable over the long term,” said Tim Zawacki, insurance sector strategist with S&P Global Market Intelligence.
