Insurers Have Paid Nearly $1.7B Property, Auto Claims from Texas Winter Storm

As of late March, Texas policyholders had filed 386,108 property and auto insurance claims related to the winter storm that blanketed the state in mid-February.

That number reflects preliminary results from a data call issued February 26 to property and auto insurers by the Texas Department of Insurance seeking information on claims stemming from the storm that impacted the state Feb. 11 – 19.

TDI has released a report, February 2021 Winter Storm Survey Data Industry Aggregate Results for Texas, that shows insurer-reported claims information as of March 26.

The report is based on data submitted by 85% of the state’s property insurance market and 94% of the auto insurance market. It shows insurers have paid out $1,673.9 billion on 186,982 combined residential property, commercial property and auto insurance claims.

Residential property claims represented the bulk of the claims reported (341,679) and paid (169,434) by the end of March. The average incurred residential property loss is $6,594.

There were 24,788 commercial property claims reported, of which 8,035 have been paid. The data shows the average incurred commercial property loss to be $49,712.

Reported auto insurance claims, both personal and commercial, totaled 19,641, of which 9,513 have been paid. There were 18,860 personal auto claims reported and 781 commercial auto claims reported, according to TDI’s report. The average incurred loss for personal auto is $2,942 and the average for commercial auto claims is $7,302.

TDI clarified in its report that “Reported claims are claims reported to the insurer. For this data call, insurers use their own definition of what constitutes a single ‘claim.’ In this case, one claim may mean a single policy that generated a claim, a single piece of property that generated a claim, a single coverage on a policy that generated a claim, or some other definition.”

The data call is ongoing. Subsequent reports are due monthly, at the end of each month, TDI said.