A California woman claimed her home insurance company spied on her with drones while she was doing renovations then used the footage of ‘clutter’ to sever her coverage.
Joan Van Kuren said she was stunned when CSAA, her insurer for almost 40 years, made the drastic move to drop her as a client due to ‘hazardous’ construction clutter they spotted in her yard.
The Modesto, California resident had been renovating her home for over three years, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remodel her kitchen, bathrooms, and driveway, she told CBS News.
But she claimed that once almost all of the work was completed, CSAA sent her a letter citing ‘hazards’ and unsanitary conditions on her property that were a liability.
Van Kuren said the insurance company used drones, a growing tactic in the industry that has seen a number of homeowners lose their coverage without knowing their properties were being watched from above.
Van Kuren said being contacted by her home insurer ruined what should have been a joyous moment as she was almost finished renovating her home.
Asked what it was like when the finishing touches were being made, she said it was ‘amazing’, adding: ‘It was wonderful because it took forever.’
But after receiving a notice that her coverage would be axed, Van Kuren said she called the insurer, attempting to argue that her home was not messy and only had construction clutter that would be cleared.
‘(The company) said they flew a drone over the home,’ she claimed. ‘It almost feels like someone’s looking in your windows, you know, when they tell you that they flew a drone over your home and looked at it. It’s like, whoa.’
CSAA told Van Kuren that their aerial images showed debris on the left side of her home – where the final renovations on the property were being made.
CBS News said that after contacting CSAA, the company claimed it does not fly drones specifically, but does use aerial imagery captured by satellites and third-party, fixed-wing aircrafts.
Van Kuren said she has been left infuriated by her treatment by the insurer, who she said she has paid upwards of $80,000 over the years.
The episode led her to abruptly cancel her car insurance, which was also with CSAA, in protest and to take her business to one of their competitors.
‘The gentleman said to me, “Is there any conversation we could have to keep you?”’ she said, recalling her conversation with a CSAA staffer.
‘I said to him, “There is absolutely no freaking way.”’
Experts say the practice is more common than people think, with Amy Bach, executive director of the consumer advocacy nonprofit United Policy Holders, telling CBS News that homeowners do have certain rights if it happens to them.
She said people can ask their insurer to send them the images that were cited in their policy cancellations, as insurers can make mistakes.
‘Sometimes, those images are blurry,’ she said. ‘And so, you know, assuming that the image is showing a damaged roof when it really is just a roof that has a skylight or solar panels.’
Van Kuren claims she requested her images from CSAA, but has not been sent them.
Bach added that it is important for homeowners to know that insurance companies must give customers 75 days’ notice before they can sever coverage.