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Adjusting Tree Damage and Landscaping Loss

Property and casualty claim data indicate that the insurance industry spends billions of dollars each year removing fallen trees and shrubs (trees) from insured structures and properties.

By Doug Malawsky | Updated on August 12, 2009

Property and casualty claim data indicate that the insurance industry spends billions of dollars each year removing fallen trees and shrubs (trees) from insured structures and properties. Claims involving trees tipping over have sharply risen over the last ten years because of a number of factors. Among the factors are the occurrence of stronger, more violent storms; growth of the green movement, which is causing an increase in the acquisition of landscape materials and new plantings as well as the preservation of large trees during construction; and an increase in land development that encroaches upon natural areas containing mature trees.

Furthermore, over the last two years, enhanced landscape policies have been filed by leading residential and commercial carriers with available coverage levels of $100,000 or more per tree, a development that will certainly increase the industry’s exposure to tree and landscape losses. Adjusters with a solid understanding of how to price tree care (removal) work, establish the primary cause of loss when a tree falls, and calculate replacement costs for landscaping will be able to adjust these categories of claims more effectively.

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