Accurate and immediate FNOL - the key to effective claims management

By Craig Hollingworth - August 07, 2019

Did you know that motor incident costs can skyrocket a scary 965% if third party information isn’t captured at the time of a crash? Our Managing Director of Motor, Craig Hollingworth, writes about how accurate and immediate First Notification of Loss (FNOL) will help insurers and drivers avoid this nightmare.

At Concirrus, we have built our technology with the vision of Insurers and Fleet Managers working together to proactively prevent collisions. The wealth of data available through the Internet of Things, along with Machine Learning, have made this vision entirely possible. 

Unfortunately, we’ll never be able to prevent every single collision from taking place. Some claims will happen - there’s always going to be someone who has a bad day or makes a bad decision behind the wheel. For these situations, quick, accurate and reliable First Notification of Loss (FNOL) is the critical element so insurers can take control to speed up the claim, cut unnecessary costs from the process, minimise downtime for the fleet and help to reduce insurance premiums overall. Here's how:

Speed is the key to controlling costs 

In order to keep costs under control, accurate FNOL information and evidence is critical and, for this, speed is the key. According to Fleet News, accident management specialist, FMG estimates that overall incident costs can escalate from £1,000 to £10,650 if the necessary third-party information isn’t captured at the time; an increase of 965%. And, household name Allianz urge policyholders to act promptly as they witness claims increasing from £5,000 if reported within 24 hours to £20,000 if reported on day 30.

For those that are traditionally insured, the speed at which the data is delivered to the insurer is one thing, but it's the speed of interpreting that data that will enable insurers to make quick decisions and take the necessary action. Unfortunately, with the technology that has been available, insurers receive vast amounts of uncleansed data from hundreds of disparate systems, usually in an excel spreadsheet. Understandably, insurers don't have the resources available to quickly digest and analyse all of this data. For a digital workflow between fleets and insurers to be adopted, insurers and Fleet Managers need software that has the ability to integrate disparate data and very quickly serve up FNOL alerts and information. With this information in hand, insurers could immediately make the necessary decisions to support the impacted fleet.

For self-insured fleets, speed is equally as important because every penny saved goes straight to the company’s bottom line. Whilst you may have some of the data to hand, it’s important to act quickly to gather additional data from the scene. Onboard technology and a software platform that quickly analyses the data will help you to do this. 

Automated FNOL workflows for less downtime and better customer service

Automated FNOL alerts not only empower insurers to act quickly when the accident first happens, they can also contain escalating costs throughout the claims process. With automated FNOL alerts, workflows could immediately be triggered to help speed up the existing claims processes. If you're a Fleet Manager, whether you self-insure and manage your claims internally, outsource to an accident management company, or need your insurer to pick up the baton, the process is the same.

An automated alert triggered from the vehicle can kick off the FNOL process in line with your internal processes. It can then:

  • Create documentation to help with the claims process and collection of data from the scene.

  • Generate a task to an agent to call the driver or policyholder and take control of the situation by: 

  1. Checking the driver is physically ok.

  2. Contacting emergency services with complete location information on behalf of the policyholder, if necessary.

  3. Speaking to the driver or policyholder and potential witnesses to gather the necessary information to begin to process the claim.

  4. Organising recovery, onward travel, medical assessments and repairs using their preferred suppliers.

For Fleet Managers, this level of efficiency would be a much better experience overall and would help you to, keep control of claims costs, protect your brand against fraudulent claims and secure competitive premium renewals. Your insurer becomes someone that can help remedy what is already a stressful situation, and who can help minimise your downtime, because we all know time is money. Not only that, the reduction in administrative burden helps everyone get back to work. 

If you're an insurer, you can more effectively manage the risk which, in turn, can reduce loss ratios and help you to grow your book profitably. 

It's a win-win

For years, Fleet Managers have been installing telematics technology thinking that their insurers will surely reward them for this investment in safety and transparency but, unfortunately, this hasn't been the case. Without feeling like they can rely on and easily access the data from this technology, it has been difficult for insurers to re-engineer their policies and premiums appropriately. 

The time has come to reward fleet companies for their technology investment. With the improvement of the onboard technology and the software used to analyse the data, insurers can have confidence in the data and Fleet Managers can expect a quick and painless claims process. 

More information

Concirrus is the creator of Quest Motor, which combines multiple data sources in one, simple, easy to use application and analyses them to discover new insights into risk. Pulling together dynamic, real-time data from vehicle sensors, telematics, video and other relevant datasets, Quest Motor also delivers automated collision reports within minutes. This enables insurers to act quickly to take control of the claims process and mitigate losses. Find out more about Quest Automotive.

Read about Concirrus’ partnership with SureCam, the market leader in connected camera technology

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