Insurers brace for a spike in Halloween insurance claims

This holiday has become one of the traditions leading to a spectrum of filings on many policy types.

Halloween insurance claims have been climbing with each passing year. Despite the impact of the pandemic, it is still expected to cause filings to rise.

Insurers are getting ready to receive the calls for vandalism, theft, and crashes.

On this holiday in 2016 through 2019, Statista data showed that 70 percent of Americans intended to take part in celebrations on this day. The COVID-19 pandemic is holding back the celebrations, but 58 percent of Americans still plan to celebrate in some way, even if it is reduced or altered.

That said, as fun as the celebrations may be, the harmless evening of costumes, candies and pranks inevitably leads to vandalism, property damage, auto crashes and injuries. Smashed pumpkins on the roads and sidewalks and toilet paper-strewn trees are often only the beginning of what is typically left behind.

All insurers record a spike in Halloween insurance claims each year, particularly from home and auto.

According to Geico, this holiday brings a 30 percent rise in vandalism and theft claims related to homes. Traveler’s Insurance’s figure is similar at 26 percent, and Farmers’ figure is 20 percent. These spikes are in comparison to the figures from the week before or the week after the holiday.

This day is also a problem for stolen cars. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) reported that in 2018, this holiday was the third biggest day for stolen cars in the year. That year, there were 2,275 auto thefts on that day, following only New Year’s Day with 2,571 thefts and 2,380 on President’s Day.

Traffic fatalities also rise significantly on that day as a result of drunk drivers. Though drunk driving crashes overall are steadily falling from one year to the next, this holiday is still a problem, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Halloween insurance claims take off as a result of drunk drivers on that day. Between 2013 and 2017, 158 people were killed in the US in drunk driving crashes.