Pacific Specialty signs on with Understory for hail data

Pacific Specialty Insurance Company will collaborate with Understory, a provider of weather data and analytics, especially around hail, to improve its claims response after hail events.

The companies first worked together in May, when a hailstorm struck Denver, and Pacific Specialty credits the startup with reducing its claim costs.

“Understory is changing how we handle weather-related property damage claims,” said Cory Candelario, VP for Pacific Specialty. “Never before have we been able to correlate specific weather events with potential damage in such a granular way. Because of Understory, we are able to make better decisions within our claims processes, and ultimately, ground-truth claims expenses.”

Understory’s sensor networks track weather in real-time, collecting data that insurers can use to streamline and execute processes based on actual property-damage information. The company's field team enters micro-leases with businesses, schools and other non-residential locations to install its solar-powered sensors. The machines give clients a ground-level view into where hail is most concentrated, increasing the likelihood of a claim and allowing them to deploy adjusters more efficiently, says Understory founder Alex Kubicek.

“Radar and satellite are looking above the ground, but what’s happening in the sky doesn’t translate to what’s happening in the ground,” Kubicek explains.

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