View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2001/08/28/14240.htm
Property insurers pay out an average $1.5 billion per year for hail-related claims, which are typically the slowest claims to be filed. In an effort to help improve the accuracy of hail claims, Weather Decision Technologies (WDT) Inc. announced the availability of HailTrax (www.hailtrax.com), an advanced hail claim verification report.
The key to HailTrax is a patent-pending Hail Verification Algorithm that integrates National Weather Service, NEXRAD Doppler Radar Data and observed hail data. Coupling state-of-the-art weather profiling from the Radar data set with actual sightings (when available) assures a more uniform and statistically viable data set from which the HailTrax algorithm can determine the hail size and geographical regions where hail fell.
Scientific evidence indicates hail detected and reported using the Hail Verification Algorithm to be conservatively 92 percent accurate at estimating the size of hailstones and greater than 96 percent accurate at detecting hail events.
The greatest benefit HailTrax offers the claims adjuster is the scientific approach to hail verification, eliminating the guesswork and ambiguity associated with human observations. Until the advent of HailTrax, the only information available from the National Weather Service (NWS) and commercial weather companies, were records of hail, as reported by NWS meteorologists augmented by sightings reported from weather enthusiasts.
Mike Eilts, president of WDT, stated that HailTrax reports were developed based on the feedback of hundreds of claims managers and adjusters, who for years have been struggling with the availability of reliable hail data.