Neighborhood drone adjusters: Erie insurer air force demo
Look, up in the sky!
Erie Insurance, one of Pennsylvania's largest home and auto coverage companies, says it has used its first drone to review homeowner claims -- on two residential roofs in Waterford, a small town in the Lake Erie snowbelt (where homeowners are constantly begging compensation for roofs split by ice, snow buid-up and fallen trees) near the company's headquarters. Video here.
Does the company expect machines will work cheaper or more accurately than human claims adjusters? "We see drones as a happy marriage between technology and the human touch," offers Erie vice president Gary Sullivan in a statement. Drones are good at taking "clear and detailed images of property in difficult to access areas," which makes work easier for human adjusters and Erie clients "without putting themselves in harm's way."
Erie was among the first wave of insurance companies to get Federal Aviation Administration approval to fly drones last Spring, as I noted here. While big national insurers have promoted drones to review and anticipate claims in industrial and agricultural locations, Erie says it may be the first to apply the flying robots to residential claims.