June 12, 2019—Mitchell recently released its Q2 Industry Trends Report and covered the topic of weather's role in claims impact.
Thus far in 2019, the United States has already experienced several severe weather events, including a polar vortex and many hail storms in the Midwest, massive flooding in the northern plains, and heavy El Niño rains in California.
The percentage of non-drivable repairable vehicles typically spikes during months with colder temperatures and higher levels of precipitation. The percentage of total losses also increases accordingly with non-drivable repairable vehicles.
States with well above average levels of precipitation saw a 7 percent increase in average repairable severity, while states with above average and average levels saw 6.22 percent and 5.19 percent increases respectively.
