NBC 7 Responds Sergio Flores explains why insurance companies brace for an increase in claims near Halloween.
You can’t miss it. Go to the corner of H and Patricia streets in Chula Vista and you’ll be terrified by the sheer number of monsters waiting to greet you.
“We made a little passageway here for the people,” said Karla Green as she walked through a small path curving through her front yard. Small barriers keep kids away from the decorations and away from busy H Street.
“We try to keep everything on this side. We actually did the walkway so they can see things better and not spend so much time on the street side. We’re trying to do everything to keep them safe,” she said.
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She says her family’s precautions also extend to safeguarding her home and the neighbors’ properties. Most of her monsters run on batteries and screams, not extension cords.
“We try to keep everything up to par so nothing blows up,” said Karla, striking an eerily similar tone to the Addams Family.
Halloween might be the scariest time of the year in more ways than one. Home and auto insurance claims tend to go up the closer we get to Oct. 31, according to the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
NBC 7 Responds
No matter how careful you might be, accidents can always pop up out of nowhere and grab you.
“The skeleton that you put out, somebody tripped over it or it blew into the neighbor's car, something like that could happen, you could see all kinds and types of claims,” said Bob Passmore from APCIA.
Passmore added that insurance companies historically brace themselves to take on the extra claims that could come in from homeowners.
These include property damage, injury, vandalism and theft claims by fiendish ghouls looking for empty houses.
“Because people look for homes that are dark. Usually, it’s a signal to trick-or-treaters that we’re not home or we don’t have candy here, but that sort of plays into the hands of those who would either break into your house or vandalize your house” said Passmore.
While we were at Karla’s house, several cars slowed down to take a closer look or to take a picture of all the decorations. This is why insurance companies are also getting ready to take on an increase in auto insurance claims.
“We have a lot more pedestrian injuries and fatalities because we have more people on the street and a lot more people driving around getting to places,” said Passmore, describing how active with trick-or-treaters and cars in residential areas could get on Halloween night.
“If you’re driving through neighborhoods, slow down, drive even slower than you usually do and put down the phone,” he added.
A few precautions that could keep Halloween scares fake and fun for everyone, and free of insurance claims.
