How Will Insurance Claims Evolve as Vehicles Become Connected?

“[W]ith all of these sensors in vehicles these days and a vehicle’s ever-increasing ability to communicate with external parties, how would a future look where the car made the claim?” asks Sean Carey, president of SCG Management Consultants in Mitchell International’s fourth quarter Industry Trends Report.

“Think about it,” he writes. “On impact the data received from the vehicle in real time could begin the claims and repair process instantly. The emergency authorities could be notified in real time, with detailed information about the vehicle, the location of the incident and the well-being of the occupants (caregivers will tell you all the time the more details they have on the number of occupants and their relative well-being while on route to the scene helps to save lives).”

Pulling on the VIN number, vehicle condition data could be uploaded to a data source that can then begin a claim, all before the accident victims even receive medical care (if needed).

According to Carey, the process could:

—Arrange for immediate roadside assistance;

—Arrange for a replacement vehicle or rental;

—Asses the data and create an impact cinema graphic that shows what happened five seconds prior to the incident and immediately afterwards;

—Provide a data rich first-notice of loss to insurance companies;

—Assess the vehicle damage uploaded by the telemetry and by using historical relevant data and predictive analytics to determine with a high degree of accuracy the repair costs or if the vehicle will be totaled;

—Create predictive estimates and parts requirements lists and send that to dealers or parts procurement companies;

—Identify which shop is best positioned to repair the vehicle based on the shop scorecards and schedule availability (be it in-network or not) and send them the assignment and predictive estimate;

—And keep the consumer informed of what is happened at all times via mobile communications.

“All of the above is done in parallel and instantly,” Carey points out. “No phone calls, no manual form filing, no frustrating repetition of the same information to different agencies. And remember, at this point the vehicle has not even been moved from the scene yet. I think that creates huge efficiency and economic benefits.”

Currently, no one company has all the parts to pull this off. However, alliances and partnerships between companies are likely, Carey writes.

He notes that Google recently announced Android Auto with plans to connect 28 manufacturers to provide a direct extension of the phone right into the head unit of a car.

“Google, of course, has the autonomous and driverless car programs and recently acquired 22 licenses for autonomous vehicles from the state of California. Google owns an online insurance aggregator in the U.K. and has recently added Alan Mulally, the former president and CEO of Ford Motor Co. to its board of directors. Do you see a trend here?”

To read the full Mitchell report, click here.