Eva Kelly-Cubells knows her 2016 Chevy Cruze — and tens of thousands of other cars swamped in hurricanes Helene and Milton — did not go quietly.
The 86-year-old Punta Gorda resident and her cat evacuated to a friend’s house on Sept. 26. There, Kelly-Cubells thought, she would be a safe distance from the canals and ponds that surround her manufactured home for Hurricane Helene’s anticipated visit. Deep in the night, though, she heard the water surging across the nearby road and then something even more ominous: a cacophony of car horns going off.
“Then it would stop, and you’d know that was the end,” Kelly-Cubells said.
Hurricane auto claims likely to hit six figures
The number of insurance claims on cars filed in Florida’s back-to-back hurricanes is approaching six figures: 91,975 filings for damaged passenger and commercial vehicles as of Monday, Oct. 28, data from the state Office of Insurance Regulation shows. And although Milton’s property damage claims dwarf Helene’s, Helene’s auto claims are 70% greater than Milton’s, state figures show.
Luckily for drivers, unlike most homeowner policies, car insurance covers flooding.
But that coverage, consumers like Kelly-Cubells are finding, has limitations.
Policies will cover the present value of the vehicle, not the replacement cost. Meaning consumers are paid what their vehicle is worth, not the cost of new one. In her case, Kelly-Cubells' $9,500 payout from her insurer on her lost vehicle won’t be enough to get her back on the road in a comparable vehicle.
All holders of auto policies in Florida and elsewhere may also see some pain next year from the 2024 hurricane season. This season's storms are expected to deal a multibillion-dollar blow to the nation’s insurers in payouts, when the auto losses in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee get factored in.
What kind of financial hit this will deal to Florida motorists’ insurance rates won’t be known for at least a year, insurance agents say.
But, spoiler alert, it’s not expected to be a good thing for the state’s residents who are already paying the third-highest car insurance rates in the United States at an annual average cost of $3,594 for full coverage, according to Bankrate.com, a personal finance website. The state falls just behind New York and Louisiana, Bankrate.com estimates.
Same issue driving residential insurance costs hit car insurance
The storms are likely to aggravate matters more because just like companies that insure property, companies that insure drivers must rely on capital reinsurance markets to shoulder the risk of weather-related events and other catastrophes. And seeing one-two punches like Helene and Milton certainly won’t improve those back-up insurance capital markets, industry watchers say.