Insurance Agents Working Overtime Due To Weather Damage
As the weather warms up and pipes begin to thaw, property owners are assessing the damage caused by last weekend’s freezing temperatures.
Many of them are placing calls to their insurance agents.
Many knew the snow and cold temperatures were headed our way. Most took what they called preventative measures, but in many cases it just wasn’t enough.
“Nothing compares to this. It’s been really an experience for us as agents and for the homeowners,” said Rene Aguilar, an Allstate agent.
He said he has been in the insurance business in El Paso for more than 20 years and can’t believe the amount of damage the cold snap caused.
“Freezing pipes and the lack of water in their homes, and then the abundance of water inside their homes, and then not able to get the personnel to extract the water from their homes,” are the problems he said his customers have been facing.
City and county buildings were not immune.
County officials said it could take about a week to assess the amount of damage they had.
County Judge Veronica Escobar told ABC-7 the county is self-insured and has been able to fix many problems with its own maintenance personnel.
However, officials have set aside about $100,000, not taxpayer money, for outside costs.
The city is also assessing damage.
Officials there said they have a policy with Affiliated Insurance with a $250,000 deductible.
They have also been using their own maintenance personnel to fix what they can.
For homeowners, Aguilar said weather-related issues are usually covered by insurance, but people just need to double check their policy.
He said this should be a lesson for new homebuyers to make sure they know what they’re buying.
Aguilar said people should check for “the right amount of insulation, the right kind of piping and stuff like that so in a situation like this, this would not happen.”
Insurance agents ABC-7 spoke with said most everything is covered by homeowner’s insurance, depending on their policy.
They said exceptions usually include earthquakes and nuclear explosions.
