Insurance companies drop SODO businesses due to high crime rates [Video]

SEATTLE – Businesses in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood report insurance providers are increasing rates, and in some cases, even refusing to issue policies altogether.

Erin Goodman, Executive Director of the SoDo Business Improvement Area received these complaints. Goodman acknowledges that insurance companies calculate rates by considering several factors among them like the local police shortage, upticks in claims made, and a rise in crime.

“If you’re looking at Seattle right now as an insurer, we are a high risk,” remarked Goodman. “Where we see [it] the most is related to businesses that have vehicles, that have trucks.”

SODO is the city’s industrial heart, a logistics hub right beside the port. Delivery drivers, auto retailers and trucking fleets line the streets. According to Goodman, gas theft from these trucks is astronomical. Criminals puncture exterior gas tanks to steal roughly $100 worth of fuel, a small sum, but the ripple effects are costly.

The repair fees range between …