Auto damage is one of the biggest effects of a hurricane disaster and one of the most severe forms of hurricane collateral damage. Surviving a hurricane disaster, and undertaking the extensive clean up process that it entails, is difficult enough; dealing with auto damage, though, will be another step in the process.
Your insurance agency will likely be extremely busy in the event of a hurricane disaster. It, along with other agencies, may establish something like an "insurance village," an area where policy holding automobile owners may congregate with their damaged vehicles to show scratches, dents, and other damage. This sort of consolidation can expedite the claims process.
Auto damage caused by hurricanes bring a barrage of automobile claims to insurance carriers. Such costs help to contribute to the massive cost of hurricanes and tropical storms. Another contributing factor to these costs, besides auto damage caused by hurricanes, is auto damage claims that are reported due to collisions at intersections due to power outages to traffic signals and other auto collisions associated with hurricane disasters.
During the aftermath of 2005's Hurricane Wilma, State Farm alone received more than 100,000 hurricane-related claims, of which over a third were auto damage-related. Hurricanes present formidable challenges for policyholders and insurance companies, alike.
Automobiles are generally covered for hurricane damage by the comprehensive portion of automobile insurance policies. If a policyholder does not have comprehensive coverage in his policy, though, his automobile will not be covered for hurricane damage. There are not discrete hurricane deductibles on automobile policies as there are for homeowner policies. Whatever a given deductible is for compressive coverage will be the deductible a policyholder will have to pay for hurricane auto damage. Comprehensive automobile coverage will also pay for flood damage to cars, which differs from general homeowner policies, which require separate coverage for flood damage to homes.
