From 2011 to 2012 personal property questionable claims (PPQC) climbed 19 percent, to 19,958 in 2012 from 13,934 in 2011; overall, the increase in PPQC submissions from 2010 to 2012 was 46 percent, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). By analyzing the PPQCs by quarter, the NICB determined that the number of PPQCs submitted in the 4 quarters of 2012 were each higher than their four counterparts in both 2010 and 2011. There was a notable 29-percent increase in number of PPQCs submitted to the NICB in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.
The NICB also found that two of the six referral reasons largely account for that 46-percent increase in PPQCs observed in the first quarter of 2012. “Suspicious Disappearance/Loss of Jewelry” displayed the most dramatic change in volume with a 99 percent increase from 2010 to 2012, most of which occurred in the first quarter of 2012. Also, “Suspicious Theft/Loss (Not Vehicle)” stood apart from the other five referral reasons by composing 46 percent of the total PPQCs from 2010 through 2012 and showed an increase of 52 percent from 2010 to 2012.
“Fire/Arson” was the only PPQC referral reason that decreased in volume to 1,944 in 2012 from 1,953 in 2010.
Similar to the quarterly results, an analysis of PPQCs by month from 2010 through 2012 revealed that every month in 2012 had larger numbers of QCs than the corresponding months in 2010 and 2011. October of 2012 showed the largest number of PPQCs with 1,999, a 33-percent increase over September of 2012 (1,504).
When broken down by policy type, the majority of PPQCs were homeowners, which the NICB pointed out, indicates that a majority of PPQCs are occurring at personal residences. Homeowners accounted for 74 percent of all PPQC policy types in 2010 and decreased slightly to 71 percent of all PPQC policy types by 2012. Other (PPOP) accounted for 6 percent of all PPQCs in 2010 and climbed to 12 percent of all PPQCs in 2012, representing the second-largest volume of policy types; personal auto composed the third-largest volume.
The top 10 states combined account for 58 percent of PPQCs from 2010 through 2012. California and Texas each accounted for 12 percent of the overall number of PPQCs submitted in that duration. The most noteworthy increases over the two-year span occurred In Hawaii (200 percent), Alaska (164 percent), Delaware (125 percent), South Dakota (120 percent), New Jersey (116 percent) and Maryland (115 percent). With the exception of Oklahoma (-6 percent), Oregon (-1 percent) and Rhode Island (-14 percent), 48 states experienced increases in PPQCs from 2010 to 2012.
Meanwhile, the top 10 cities combined accounted for 20 percent of PPQCs from 2010 to 2012. Detroit (-5 percent) was the only city in the top 10 to experience an overall decrease for the duration, while the following cities more than doubled the number of PPQC submissions from 2010 to 2012: Fayetteville, N.C. (295 percent); San Diego (173 percent); San Antonio (172 percent); Dallas (132 percent); and Los Angeles (125 percent).
Earlier this year, the NICB released broad data sets on
