The National Insurance Crime Bureau (“NICB”) has announced revised estimates for the number of vehicles damaged as a result of Superstorm Sandy, as provided by the Insurance Services Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Verisk Analytics. You better be sitting down when you read this.
The current estimate of vehicles damaged as a result of Sandy is 230,000. 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, Virginia, and West Virginia.
It is important to note that these are preliminary figures and may change as additional claims are received and processed. Moreover, 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.
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, which collectively provide 88 percent of the auto insurance in force today.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].