How Insurance Carriers Can Help Property Owners Prepare for Tornado Season

Tornado season has officially arrived, as evidenced by the eight tornadoes (including one that reached an EF-4 level) that ripped through Alabama and Georgia in early March and resulted in massive devastation and loss. While tornado season arrives in March, it typically peaks in April and runs through June. Insurance carriers can add a lot of value to property owners by making them aware of how to protect themselves and their properties during this turbulent time of year.

On average, tornadoes result in at least $10 billion in property damage in the U.S. each year. While you can’t prevent these natural disasters from occurring, you can be prepared. Here is what insurance carriers need to be talking to insureds about now with the arrival of tornado season:

Inventory of Valuables
As a best practice, encourage property owners to document everything that they own for insurance purposes. In the event that a property and its possessions are impacted by a tornado, it’s best if insureds don’t have to guess when reporting values to their insurance carriers.

Make property owners aware of easy tools that they can use to document their valuables. For example, apps like Sortly or Encircle can allow property owners to take a digital inventory of their possessions with their smartphones. These apps also make it easy for property owners to forward along their inventory to their insurance carriers.

Property Renovations
Sometimes insurance carriers aren’t aware that a renovation has been made to a property until they complete an in-person insurance inspection. This is alarming because if enhancements to a property aren’t reported to the insurance carrier, it’s likely that the property is under-insured. In the event that a tornado or some other type of disaster wreaked havoc on the property, the insured could experience significant financial loss if proper insurance coverage was not in place.

When talking to property owners, make them aware of how important it is to inform their insurance carrier of any recent renovations to the property, such as finishing a basement, adding a porch, or updating electrical systems. As a best practice, property owners should reach out to their insurance carriers prior to making the renovation to discuss how it will impact their coverage.

We still have several months left of tornado season, which means that insurance carriers should make it a priority to proactively have these conversations with property owners to help minimize the repercussions if a tornado is to occur.

How Insurance Risk Services Can Help
Our team at Insurance Risk Services has nearly 40 years of experience in partnering with property and casualty insurance carriers to provide in-person property inspections. We utilize the latest inspection technology to ensure that our reports are thorough and accurate for underwriting. In addition to completing these reports, we use an insurance inspection as an opportunity to educate property owners about how to mitigate risk around the property.

Contact us at Insurance Risk Services to learn how we can help you to add value to your insureds with an in-person property inspection.