Previously the motor insurance claims were being managed by insurers through the surveyors where the surveyor used to inspect the vehicle physically & submit his report for quantum of loss on the basis of which the compensation amount was disbursed.
But with the entrance of private sector players who are aggressively making use of technology for better customer service, the scenario has gone sea change & that is why they are able to capture about 60% of market share of total premium collection. The share of public sector insurance co’s is going down with every passing year.
Most of the private sector co’s have launched photo or video claim apps.for motor claim survey for quick settlements of the claims Video streaming facility eliminate the need for physical inspection of damaged vehicles by surveyors. It also eliminates the customary process of physically submitting claim documents to the insurer which now can be uploaded in the app, thus reducing waiting time drastically. The on-line survey can be completed in just a few minutes and the claims processing will be initiated without the surveyor’s visit thus simplifying the entire claims process,’’. The turnaround time for claim settlements has come down from months to days & in some cases to few hours only.
How does it works:
The insured or the workshop advisor connects the insurer through audio/video call or the given app & then photographs of the required documents like RC, DL, Insurance policy etc. are clicked through the mobile & uploaded in the app & immediately thereafter the company executive appears online & guides you to video graphs the vehicle & damages occurred which are live streamed & viewed by him & he discuss the replacement/repairs required & finalize the claim. The whole process is completed in few minutes.
Thereafter, if the claim is being handled by the insured directly & he agrees to the assessment amount, the same is transferred in his account upfront & he may go for repairs at his own, in the garage of his choice. But if the claim is being handled by the workshop advisor in his garage, the claim amount is disbursed as soon as the intimation of completion of repair is given to the insurer.
The private sector insurer icici Lombard is using the video app called instaspect is leading the others in video app settlement & the option is proving to be successful in TAT & cost reduction
In line with the changing times, most of the other private players are following the same mode of motor claim settlements. The “future generali” insurance is using i-moss app, Bajaj allianz-mots & iffco is using …… similarly most of the other private players including Tata-AIG, Bharti-Axa, HDFC-Ergo, Reliance insurance etc, are also using their in-house systems on the same lines.
ICICI lombard is trying to move one step ahead & has partnered with Microsoft to develop India’s first AI-enabled car inspection feature in its mobile app, “Insure.” The app allows customers to buy or renew policies anytime, anywhere. And, soon it will also simplify the process of making a repair claim. Using the Azure platform, computer vision, and machine learning (ML) technologies, they refined the process until the accuracy was fit for purpose.
AI-driven process; a customer will use the app to take photographs of car’s damage. Once uploaded, the system’s deep learning model and computer vision identifies in real time all the parts of the vehicle, like roof, window or bumper and then spots all the different types of damage – be it scratch, dent, crack, and so on. Most importantly, the app replies with an estimated cost quickly using historical data.
With AI, the company aims to complete simple claims in days, instead of weeks when the module is launched towards the end of 2019.
A Banglore based technology company I-nube is also offering the e-survey app & back end systems for the insurers as well as to the independent surveyors. Some other companies are also offering the same facilities for the independent surveyors on pay-per-use basis to make it affordable. All of the apps & back end claim reporting systems are more or less of similar nature with minor differences here & there as intent of the companies is same i.e to maximize the use of technology for better service & cost reduction.
Case Study
If you go through the case of completely digital insurer “ Go Digit” which entered the nonlife insurance sector barely a year ago & they are settling almost 90% of their claim remotely through video app link sent to the mobile of either the repairer or the insured. you click over the link & get connected to their back end system, upload the docks & then video stream the damaged vehicle which is viewed instantly by their claim analyst sitting as far as at their Mumbai office & within minutes you are offered the compensation amount which is credited to your account in advance even before the repair of the vehicle. And if you want to go through the cashless route, the repairer is issued a R.O. or D.O. within no time & thereafter payment to repairer is made immediately on submission of bills.
When asked about the danger of malpractices in this system, the official reply was that there will always be few rotten eggs & we don’t want to make process complicated for sake of few of them. And they produced some claim data in support of overall benefits of the system adopted & explained as under:
# 2.8 Million Customers
We started with a nobody but with a strong & clear mission, To Make Insurance Simple. And we are glad that people appreciated this. That’s how we got the trust of 2. 8 million customers in the last financial year. And this wouldn’t have been possible without the relentless support of our partners. If you are reading this, we thank you with all our heart! 🙂
# 35,130 Claims Closed
We are serious when we say We Love Claims! Which is why we closed 35,130 claims with healthy Claim Settlement numbers. Take a peek:
How long do we take to settle the claims?
Well with our digitalized processes and seamless flow of information, we closed the claims at our fastest best! Take a look at our Turn Around Times. Nothing to hide 🙂
About how many domestic travel claims are settled on the same day, given we have a 100% Automated Claim Settlement process for flight delays. So we have pulled out that number for you: 58% of the domestic travel claims are settled on the same day! Usually, most of the time taken to settle these claims, goes in getting the bank details from the customer and hence some cases extend to more than 1 day to be closed. However, we are looking at alternate ways to reduce the time here.
# Payment processed in less than 24 hours, after invoice is received
To fasten our claim process , we have also started tracking a stage-wise Turn Around Time (TAT) across departments involved in Claim Settlement. This is also shared with our partners, so that they are always informed about their customer’s claim status.
After our last Transparency report, a customer asked us to share this with them as well. So under our vow of transparency, sharing it with you too.
What you see here is that apart from the repair time taken for the vehicle, rest of the processes are completed in less than 48 hours. And we are hoping to improve this further.
# 2% Market Share in Motor Insurance
Let’s face it, we’re young and people sometimes doubt newcomers. We’ve had people who wanted to be customers but had doubts on how a new insurance company will help them in case there is a large claim. But we’re glad that we’re standing in the same room as the giants in the industry, trying to make our mark gradually: For Q4 FY 2018-19, our exit market share for motor insurance was 2.0%!
# 7 day inspection brought down to 7 minutes
We believe, just creating a fancy process is not enough. It needs to be simple enough for people to use it. Which is why we created a DIY inspection process which people could do with their smartphones alone.
To test how simple it really is, we went through a torture-test and made kids test it. And we ourselves were amazed that the kids took just 7 minutes to complete the self-inspection process with their smartphones.
Given this simplicity and speed, no wonder, 7o% of our customers opted for self-inspection over a manual inspection.
And after the inspection, our minions in-house i.e. our operations team makes sure that the rest of the process is as fast. Therefore, 85% of our Inspection Cases are checked within 10 minutes only.
Now the public sector insurance co’s are also awakening to the ground realities & have started thinking on the same lines. Some times back, the New India Assurance co. & United India Insurance company is stated to have joined hands with the web aggregator & online policy sales portal “Policy Bazar” & Who are now conducting the virtual survey & assessment of the motor claims on the behalf of insurers.
The public sector insurer ” Oriental Insurance co.” has initiated the process to out ource the below Rs. 50000/- cases to the tech.based loss assessment agencies whereas the National Insurance is planning for in-house surveys through video streaming option.