TN| The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Bulletin 25-03 addresses the guidelines and consumer protections related to insurers’ use of aerial imagery in property insurance, particularly for homeowners policies. The bulletin emphasizes that aerial imagery, though valuable for claims and underwriting, must not be relied upon as the sole source for decisions and should be recent, accurate, and clearly communicated to consumers.
Key Points:
- Insurers must use aerial imagery as one tool among many and avoid making decisions solely on the basis of images that are blurry, outdated, or incomplete.
- Homeowners should be notified if aerial imagery is used in policy decisions, given access to the images, and provided the opportunity to dispute or update information before adverse actions such as cancellations or nonrenewals.
- Under Tennessee law, denying claims or taking policy actions based solely on unclear aerial imagery is considered an unfair claims practice and may subject insurers to penalties.