Underwriting Announces LOCATION Hail Damage Score

April 11, 2013 / 3 min read

JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 11, 2013 — Verisk Insurance Solutions – Underwriting, a unit of Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK), today announced LOCATION® Hail Damage Score. The new solution improves an insurer’s ability to underwrite properties with existing hail damage.

LOCATION Hail Damage Score is developed in collaboration with Verisk Analytics unit Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) and powered by its AER BenchmarkTM database. AER Benchmark pinpoints locations of damage-producing hail events using proprietary computer algorithms to analyze high-resolution historical natural hazard information derived from weather radar and other sources.

“Since 2008, U.S. insurers have paid 4.5 million hail claims totaling $32.1 billion,” said Neil Spector, president of Verisk Underwriting. “Despite the high rate of roof-related claims, many properties damaged by hail have not been repaired. This can leave insurers vulnerable to paying for property damage that occurred before a new policy inception.”

LOCATION Hail Damage Score shows the probability that a damage-producing hail event affected any property in the 48 contiguous states. Updated monthly, results also include date of last occurrence and the number of events affecting the property based on historical weather data.

“In the United States, the average cost to replace a 4,500- to 5,000-square-foot roof with 25-year 3-tab composition shingles is now more than $12,500,” continued Spector. “By identifying just 100 properties with preexisting damage, we estimate LOCATION Hail Damage Score can help individual carriers avoid as much as $1 million in claims payments for damage occurring before the policy term.”

Insurers can implement underwriting rules to trigger specific actions based on LOCATION Hail Damage Score. These include requesting a loss history report, ordering a roof inspection, or potentially eliminating inspections that may be unnecessary. Additionally, an underwriter can use LOCATION Hail Damage Score to reevaluate existing policies in term or at renewal.

The AER Benchmark database is populated by AER RespondTM, which provides near-real-time high-resolution data analysis of damaging weather and environmental perils. AER helps insurance firms anticipate and manage risks related to weather and climate.

For more information on LOCATION Hail Damage Score, please visit www.verisk.com/hailscore.

About Verisk Insurance Solutions – Underwriting
A unit of Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK), Verisk Insurance Solutions – Underwriting is a leading source of underwriting information about property/casualty insurance risk. Drawing upon vast experience in data management, predictive modeling, and risk assessment solutions, Verisk Insurance Solutions includes the industry-leading brands of ISO, AIR Worldwide, and Xactware. In the United States and around the world, Verisk Analytics helps customers protect people, property, and financial assets. For more information, visit www.verisk.com/insurance.

About Atmospheric and Environmental Research
Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) helps businesses and the government anticipate and manage climate- and weather-related risks. Insurance, energy, and manufacturing firms count on AER to help decrease their weather-related losses and increase profitability by integrating state-of-the-art climate science and weather information into their planning and decision processes. Government agencies such as NOAA, NASA, and the Departments of Defense and Energy rely on AER’s scientists to help solve weather- and climate-related problems of vital national importance in energy, environment, national security, and climate change. Established in 1977 and headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, AER is a member of the Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) Family of Companies. Please visit www.aer.com.

Release: Immediate

Contact:

Media
Erica Helton/Giuseppe Barone
MWW Group (for Verisk Insurance Solutions)
(201) 507-9500
ehelton@mww.com
gbarone@mww.com

Insurance Solutions – Underwriting Announces LOCATION Hail Damage Score to Help Insurers Identify Preexisting Hail Damage before Underwriting a Policy