(NewsNation) — Insurance companies are allegedly using drones to photograph homes without owner knowledge, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
The report claimed the companies are using those aerial images to ditch properties seen as too risky. For example, if a house’s roof is missing or has damaged shingles, if tree branches are hanging over the home’s structure, or even if the property has a pool or trampoline that wasn’t reported.
The insurance companies then use that collected data as a reason to refuse to renew someone’s home insurance policy and drop them, the report said.
Consumer advocates say the problem is that some of the images could be outdated, meaning changes to the property could have been made in the time that the photos were snapped. A homeowner could have cut down those branches over the home or had their roof replaced since the images were taken.
In some cases, the images may not even be accurate.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that it’s a challenging process for the policy holder to contest.
While the report claims the insurance companies are conducting this practice secretly, the Insurance Information Insitute says that in most cases homeowners have a right to see the inspection report.
Plus, certain states have different laws that try to limit the reasons insurance companies can cite if they do not want to renew your coverage, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The practice of spying on homes also prompts a discussion about where the line is when it comes to the privacy of the homeowner and technological advances.
“This is just a much more efficient way of capturing data. The drone technology is very highly sophisticated, it continues to improve,” Mark Friedlander, the director of corporate communications at the Insurance Information Institute, said. “It captures the type of data that insurers need to make underwriting decisions. And here’s the big picture, weeding out risky properties through the visual inspection process helps everybody, meaning there’s fewer claims.”
It comes at a time when data reveals homeowner’s insurance is getting more expensive. Premiums for homeowners nationwide went up more than 20% from 2022 to 2023, which is up from a 12% increase the year before, according to a recent study by Policygenius.