Inwood Car Dealership Sues Insurance Companies

An Inwood car dealership that believes it was denied more than $4 million in insurance money for damage caused by Superstorm Sandy has taken its two insurance companies to court.

Five Towns Nissan in April sued Manhattan-based Tower National Insurance Company and Zurich American Insurance of Schaumburg, Ill., in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The dispute is whether a “storm surge,” which damaged its Burnside Avenue building and the more than 450 cars in it, should not be classified as “flood” damage, Newsday reported.

Zurich applied a $5,000 deductible per car for flood damage instead of the $2,500 for storm surge. This leads to a smaller payout for the dealer. The dealer also disputes that the deductibles on the vehicles should have been capped at $300,000. Instead, it paid a deductible of $2.2 million.

The dealership closed for 23 days after the devastating storm brought more than five feet of water into the showroom.

Newsday said both insurers declined comment.

Read the rest of the story at Newsday [paid link].