FREDERICK, MD — Claims for 620 vehicles damaged or destroyed in the West Virginia flood of June 23 have been filed with State Farm Insurance.
The largest insurer in the state said the majority of those claims were a total loss.
“In many cases the vehicles were a total loss and in most instances they were non-driveable after the flood hit,” said State Farm Spokesman Dave Phillips.
State Farm did not indicate the total dollars on those claims, but Phillips suggested it was significant. There was also no information on whether families had multiple claims on multiple vehicles, but Phillips suspected it was the case.
“We don’t have it broken down by multi-family vehicles, but in many instances you’re looking at neighborhoods where in all likelihood individuals may have had more than one vehicle impacted, just based on the location of where the most intense flooding occurred.”
State Farm doesn’t offer any kind of homeowners flood insurance as a product, but covers flood damage on auto policies through the comprehensive coverage. Phillips suggested the flood would be a good opportunity for those who managed to escape damage to reevaluate coverage.
“Lessons possibly learned, you may want to consider flood insurance if it wasn’t a product you purchased before,” said Phillips.”For your vehicle, if you’re not covering comprehensive, if you just have collision or liability, you’re going to need comprehensive to cover not only a flood, but also other weather issues.”
Totaled vehicles claimed by State Farm are taken to salvage yards in the area of claim to be properly disposed of.