Simplifying motor claims

Understanding the value of reducing latency

The sooner we receive a notification of a claim, the sooner we can be in contact to arrange repairs, hire vehicles, tows, and anything else the insured may require.

Delays in notification can result in:

• A longer claim life, especially if we lose the ability to proactively control outcomes
• An extended period of time where the vehicle is off the road, as the repair industry is not immune from surges in demand during peak periods
• Increased claim costs due to additional towing and/or vehicle storage fees, or vehicle rental fees.

Additionally, early notification mitigates the risk of further damage to insured vehicles (for example, as a result of incident-related mechanical issues), which can delay getting your client’s vehicles back on the road.

Upfront clarification of important information

Our processes are designed to produce claim assessments as quickly as possible. To facilitate this outcome our claims teams require specific information in order to determine coverage, excess, and the correct repair process at lodgement.

This information includes:

• Date and time of loss
• A basic incident description that includes all relevant facts of the circumstance
• Driver’s details (such as relevant licence class, years licenced, and pre-accident drug/alcohol information)
• Vehicle particulars (Year, Make, Model and Rego)
• A description of the vehicle damage
• Vehicle location at time of claim notification (such as scene of the accident, holding yard, insured’s or repairer’s address)

Delays in acquiring this information may prolong claim progression and produce additional claim touch-points.

Helping your clients with a systemised approach to gathering and providing all relevant claim information up front could add significant value by way of improving claim handling speed and efficiency. Providing sufficient information upon lodgement allows our claims adjusters and brokers to focus on ensuring the claim is set up correctly for smooth progression, including arranging all required actions at that point in time rather than in separate stages.

Adequate event preparation

Ensuring your clients are prepared for large weather events can make the difference between a minor business disruption and an outright catastrophe. Some tips to help you prepare your clients include:

• Consider supporting clients with non-urgent vehicle repairs prior to event season
  • During large weather events, local repair networks are often inundated with work, resulting in significant capacity constraints. These constraints lead to extended repair times
  • Consider where their fleet is stored
• If a large number of vehicles are stored in one location, particularly one not protected from weather, it creates a risk that an event could cause a significant amount of the fleet off the road at one time
• Dispersing the vehicles reduces the risk of one event causing wide scale damage
• Having less vehicles impacted equates to fewer claims to lodge, less excess and less premium increases due to claim costs
• A high proportion of simultaneous write-offs to a vehicle fleet may result in replacement sourcing challenges and delays, leading to disruptive results to business operations.

• If vehicles are stored centrally, considering ensuring adequate protection from hazard damage including
  • Hail roofing or blankets
  • Wind proofing to avoid storm debris
  • Vehicle spacing to avoid fire spread
  • Ensuring the location is elevated or not prone to flooding
  • A plan to relocate and store vehicles if adequate forewarning is provided

For large weather events we partner with specialist large-scale repairer groups and deploy mass assessment centres to rapidly assess affected vehicles, often including fast-tracking vehicle repair and settlement pathways.

For hail-damaged vehicles, we typically see a high proportion of ‘paintless dent repair’ (PDR) outcomes, the repair capacity for which sits separate from traditional repair network.

However, if a vehicle has pre-existing damage requiring conventional repairs this can impact the repair pathway in these instances. If they require a conventional repairer (in addition to PDR) that vehicle will join the backlog of other vehicles awaiting assessment or repair.

Supply chain functionality and challenges

It is no secret to all industry professionals that the motor repair supply chain (like many others) is currently under significant pressure from a range of economic and market challenges.

Areas of impact include:

• Sourcing of parts
• Skilled labour shortage
• Replacements and new vehicle availability

Sourcing of parts

Global manufacturing and shipping challenges, while vastly improved since the height of pandemic impacts, still create occasional uncertainty with the sourcing of parts. These delays, while currently rare (relative to the scale of parts used) are unpredictable and often impossible to expedite or work around, due to the lack of alternative options.

Delays in sourcing parts can prevent a vehicle from operating safely, meaning that the vehicle occupies physical space at a repair facility while queued for repair. Repair facilities have finite space to run their operation, and at times this queuing and subsequent backlog issue can be yet another factor affecting repairs.

Skilled labour shortage

The current skilled labour shortages are driven by a range of factors, including the pandemic’s impact on skilled labour migration.

Additionally, we have seen a persistent adverse trend in the ‘severity’ of motor vehicle accidents for some time. Accident severity translates directly to the amount and/or types of parts and labour required to repair a given vehicle, compounding the aforementioned issues and placing further strain on repair network capacity.

This reinforces the need to get a claim started as quickly as possible.

Replacement vehicle and new vehicle availability

Supply chain issues are also impacting replacement vehicle and new vehicle availability. This creates a flow on impact of increasing used car costs as well.

When renewing or updating policies with sum insured, amount covered or agreed value, it is important to keep this in mind to avoid the possibility of underinsurance impacting any claims.

We work to supply replacements in a timely manner, including sourcing suitable substitute vehicles where available, but this is not always possible, and in some circumstances cash settlement may be the only option.

If you would like further information, please contact your dedicated representative.

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