The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) on Nov. 26 announced a revised estimate of 230,000 vehicles damaged as a result of Hurricane Sandy, as provided by the Insurance Services Office (ISO), a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics.
Like this article? Sign up to receive our weekly news blasts here.The current estimate of vehicles damaged as a result of Sandy hit the 230,000 mark as claims processed by insurance companies have been reviewed and analyzed. Not surprisingly, New York had the most vehicles affected by the storm with 130,000 while New Jersey generated 60,000 claims.
The remaining 40,000 were reported from Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland,Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginiaand West Virginia.
These are preliminary figures and may change as additional claims are received and processed. There is no determination as to the extent of damage to these vehicles. They could have sustained minor paint scratches from flying debris, or have been under water for days and rendered total losses.
Used vehicle consumers need to be aware that severely damaged vehicles may appear advertised for sale without any indication that they were affected by Sandy. As always, buyers should be careful when considering a used vehicle purchase in the weeks and months following such a disaster.
Consumers can download checklists and learn more about flood and salvage vehicle scams and post- disaster contractor repair schemes by visiting the NICB website here. Also, NICB's VINCheck allows free consumer access to the vehicle salvage records of participating NICB member insurance companies who collectively provide 88 percent of the auto insurance in force today.
Anyone with information concerning vehicle theft and insurance fraud can report it anonymously by calling (800) 835-6422, texting keyword "fraud" to TIP411 (847411) or by visiting NICB's Web site at www.nicb.org. Or, iPhone or iPad users can download the NICB Fraud Tips app to make it easy to quickly send a tip and get a response.
