Covid-19: Accelerating Auto Claims’ Need for AI

As the insurance and collision industry adjusts to the global impact of the coronavirus, the demand from carriers and consumers for remote claims has never been higher writes James Spears, Head of Automotive at Tractable, who use AI to assess damage and recovery.

Why? Well, quite simply, the transmittable nature of Covid-19 – and the lockdown measures put in place to contain it – mean there is now an obvious need to reduce the number of physical contact points when assessing and repairing damaged vehicles. Repairers and customers realise that the existing process – often requiring multiple contact instances as a stricken vehicle is assessed, delivered to repairers at the bodyshop, and then back to the driver – doesn’t fit current requirements for social distancing.

However, this isn’t a new trend, but an acceleration of an existing one. Already, consumers weaned on a smartphone and digital apps see that when it comes to making an insurance claim, there’s a lot of unnecessary friction. One obvious area of concern – why does it take as much as a week for their insurer to assess a damaged vehicle? Couldn’t that be done remotely, through photos, instead?

But from the delivery side, remote claims, facilitated by an AI, bring benefits too, including:

• Fewer data collection loops and points of contacts between insurers, repairers, and policyholders
• Reduced appraisal times, potentially down to minutes, if images are uploaded and processed from the vehicle location
• Greater accuracy, as the technology – trained on hundreds of millions of accidents and operating to a consistent, replicable standard – scans each image of the damaged area
• Enhanced levels of service, as enabling triage decisions earlier in the process accelerates every step in the claim that follows, from repair/replace decisions to parts ordering

But how do we know that demand for these services is up? Well, we’ve been having a look a the numbers. Since the Covid-19 period began, we’ve seen a 2-3x increase in the number of RFPs and PoCs that we’re being asked to do for carriers. There’s no question in our minds that we’re seeing a surge.

If at least some of that extra demand translates beyond us and across the sector, then we’re about to see an explosion in insurers and repairers looking at how to conduct more and more of their claims remotely. And once those points of contact disappear, there’s no way consumers or insurers will want them back.

Friction-free claims, powered by AI: it’s not only the future, but it’s what the world wants now.