Clearsurance Survey Finds High Concern but Low Action Around Protection for Natural Disasters

Business Wire

87 percent of participants worry but 42 percent haven’t assessed insurance coverage

NEWBURYPORT, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Clearsurance, the first-of-its-kind crowdsourced review, rating and educational platform exclusively for the insurance industry, today released results of a consumer survey about insurance that protects their property against natural disasters. The online survey of 1,000 U.S. individuals uncovered that the majority of respondents (87 percent) are concerned about a natural disaster striking their area, but very few have taken action to adequately protect themselves from being uninsured or underinsured. Of those that said they took action, the majority went no further than reviewing their policy. Only 18 percent enhanced their homeowners coverage and 12 percent purchased a new insurance plan.

However, data from CoreLogic stating that 70 percent of flood damage from Hurricane Harvey was uninsured underscores the concern that an overwhelming majority of victims were not adequately covered.

“We conducted this survey following a string of devastating events across the country and the findings highlight a clear problem: consumers’ lack of knowledge about their own homeowners policies and what is and is not covered,” said Clearsurance Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer Todd Kozikowski. “This is why we created Clearsurance. Our aim is to help people make smarter insurance decisions by empowering them through education and reputable reviews shared by other consumers. This knowledge will ultimately help homeowners secure proper coverage for property losses, and be ready for inevitable natural disasters in the future.”

Other findings include:

The most frequently noted natural disaster claim filed was wind damage at 28 percent, followed closely by flood at 25 percent
Wind and flood were followed by ice (15 percent) and earthquake (12 percent)
The least commonly filed claim was wildfire at 10 percent nationally, though it was notably higher for respondents from the West at 25 percent
82 percent of participants are expecting a rate increase for their policies following the 2017 storm season
35 percent of those expecting a rate increase think it will be 10 percent or more and 47 percent expect it to be between 1 and 9 percent

To download a survey summary, please go to: http://bit.ly/NaturalDisasterReport. To learn more about Clearsurance or one of more than 370 personal lines insurance companies currently reviewed on the site, please visit www.clearsurance.com.

About Clearsurance

Based just outside of Boston, Mass. and founded in 2016 by Mike Crowe and Todd Kozikowski, Clearsurance is the first-of-its-kind crowdsourced review, rating and educational platform specifically for insurance. It’s designed to bring transparency and insights to help consumers make smarter insurance decisions, and to engage insurance carriers to showcase their brand to acquire and retain customers by publishing crowdsourced reviews and ratings. For more information, visit www.clearsurance.com.