Insurance providers have always factored weather into their models. What has changed over the last decade is frequency, intensity, and predictability. The data is clear – natural disasters are now a recurring driver of costs, not isolated anomalies. 

  • According to CARFAX, storms left 45,000 vehicles flood-damaged in the first half of 2025. 
  • They also estimated that the 2024 hurricane left 347,000 flood-damaged vehicles. 

Each one of these cars represents more than a claim. They translate directly into payouts that weigh on profitability, strain claims organizations, and weaken customer trust. When the scale of losses climbs every year, storms stop being a seasonal disruption and start being a structural challenge for the entire industry. And for vehicles, the most reliable protection is simple: safe, elevated, covered parking. 

Why do preventable losses keep happening?  

The frustration for insurers is not just the size of the losses but the fact that so many of them are easily avoidable.   

The National Hurricane Center provides consistent lead time. A hurricane watch is typically issued 48 hours before tropical-storm-force winds are expected, and a warning about 36 hours before. Those windows create a real opportunity to move vehicles to higher ground or covered storage. Yet in practice, most cars remain in driveways, surface lots, or flood-prone neighborhoods.   

Car owners are aware of the consequences. Six inches of water is enough to stall a car, while twelve inches can float it. Two feet can carry away even large SUVs and trucks. For electric vehicles, the risks are still greater since saltwater-damaged batteries can ignite hours or even days after exposure. The U.S. Coast Guard and NHTSA have issued public warnings about the fire hazard posed by submerged EVs. 

Forecast-to-action gap  

On the surface, everything seems to be in order. Authorities provide reliable alerts about poor weather. Car owners are aware of the risks and want to keep their cars safe. But the numbers tell a different story. Claims keep on rising. This is because a lack of awareness was never an issue. What was missing was that until recently, customers didn’t have a practical solution to act on their knowledge and protect their vehicles from storm damage. 

What traditional risk management misses  

Traditionally, the insurance industry has relied on two factors to manage climate risk: pricing and claims. Insurers increase premiums to account for higher expected losses, and payouts follow when disasters strike and claims start rolling in. This approach keeps products solvent but does little to break the cycle of rising costs.  

What’s missing is prevention. Very few industries tolerate such a wide gap between predictability and action. Airlines don’t wait for a storm to hit before grounding flights. Utilities don’t wait for peak summer heat to prepare the grid. Yet the auto insurance industry continues to accept billions in losses that could have been mitigated by relocating vehicles during predictable warning windows. 

Why parking is the real lever  

For storm-related vehicle losses, the outcome is almost always decided by where the vehicle is parked. Most surface lots, curbside spaces, and even driveways are at ground level and offer no protection from floodwater or debris.  

According to FEMA, even five inches of water can cause over $25,000 worth of damage. Elevated garages lower flood exposure. Enclosed parking structures protect against debris, which is a major contributor to hurricane-related claims. Vehicles stored above flood elevation face significantly lower damage probability than those left at ground level, even within the same storm zone.  

The issue here is rarely ever awareness, but access. However, not all parking is protective parking. A ground-level garage in a flood zone offers limited benefits. Storm-resilient parking, like the ones included in the Way’s Natural Disaster Protection Plan, is elevated, enclosed, and available before evacuation traffic begins.  

This is why parking is the real lever. Pricing accounts for risk and claims manage loss, but the parking location ultimately determines whether damage occurs at all. 

Prevention partnerships: How they can help  

Closing this gap requires infrastructure, communication, and ease of use for the customer. Partnerships between insurers, mobility platforms like Way, and parking providers are beginning to show how these pieces can come together.  

Such programs address the barriers that have limited customer action in the past. They rely on: 

  • Timeliness: Alerts that are synchronized with official hurricane watches and warnings.  
  • Simplicity: Easy, online booking process that reduces user resistance.  
  • Relevance: Carefully curated inventory that only includes safe indoor parking garages.  

The result is a win-win for both insurance providers and their customers. Customers value the ability to proactively protect their vehicles, and insurers see the economic value of paying for prevention instead of claims. 

Way has built prevention programs in collaboration with leading insurance providers, giving drivers in storm-prone regions a clear path to keep their cars safe before disaster strikes. 

When severe weather is forecast, customers receive timely alerts through their insurer. In just a few steps, they can reserve parking in secure indoor parking garages through Way’s platform, moving vehicles out of harm’s way before landfall. 

Redefining the role of insurers  

Prevention partnerships do more than reduce claims. They reshape customer expectations.  

Insurers move from being viewed only as entities that pay for damage after the fact to being trusted partners that help prevent loss altogether. That repositioning carries strategic benefits: customers are more likely to renew, regulators see carriers taking responsibility for risk mitigation, and investors recognize a pathway to more stable loss ratios.  

This model works for all types of vehicles, not just niche or enthusiast ones. Everyday drivers also face risks. EVs, as mentioned above, present unique safety challenges. Fleet operators face operational paralysis and supply chain disruptions if large numbers of their vehicles are damaged. Each of these groups can benefit from a system that connects forecast windows to safe storage and makes booking easy. 

The business case for action  

For senior leaders, the business case is clear. Prevention partnerships deliver:  

  • Lower claims costs by reducing frequency and severity.  
  • Improved customer loyalty by offering tangible protection when it matters most.  
  • Operational resilience for fleets.  
  • Reputational strength is achieved by positioning insurers as proactive protectors rather than reactive payers.  

It’s more cost-effective to subsidize storage for several days for thousands of vehicles than to cover even a small number of those cars as total losses. 

A path forward for the industry  

The auto insurance industry now has the tools to reduce losses from natural disaster claims. It has accurate forecasts and a platform that connects car owners to safe storage. What is now required is broader adoption.  

Executives who want to lead on this front should:  

  • Include relocation in the customer experience by syncing communication with official alerts and warnings.  
  • Carefully track outcomes based on the alerts sent, bookings made, vehicles relocated, and claims avoided.  
  • Partner with companies like Way, which already manages parking spaces and has a proven online booking system. 

Reactive or proactive? The choice is yours 

Storms will undoubtedly continue to happen. However, they don’t need to mean higher losses for insurance providers. Way’s safe storage service has shown how insurance companies can lower costs, better protect customers, and increase their long-term resilience. 

By shifting from reactive claims management to proactive protection, the insurance industry can improve both financial stability and customer trust. The opportunity is clear. Leaders who embrace it will set a new standard for how insurance protects people in an era when extreme weather is the norm.