Claims

Companies create a more customer-friendly, digitally-focused roadside assistance experience.

The stay-at-home mandates, school and business closings, and increased remote work arrangements emanating from COVID-19 resulted in a significant decrease in motor vehicle accident frequency in 2020, with that trend continuing into 2021. There are many other, less obvious forces that actuaries and company management should consider as 2021 year-end reserves are analyzed.

In other news: Zurich releases cyber risk survey results; Hertz and Uber to add 50,000 Teslas to network; Amica selects Shift Technology.

Insurers should enhance the capabilities and broaden the roles of claims professionals to reap the benefits of advanced tools while maintaining personal engagement at moments that matter.

What’s driving your digital claims transformation program: COVID? Competition? Or cost? Whatever the answer, we could be in danger of leaving the customer out of the equation in the rush to digitize and automate insurance processes. It could be time to take a more user-centric approach, reimagine the customer journey and find out what customers actually want.

Insured losses from the storm, the second-most intense hurricane to hit the state of Louisiana, will probably range between $28 million and $30 million, the reinsurer said in a statement Tuesday. It estimated its own cost from claims related to the storm at about $750 million.

Sempra’s Southern California Gas Co. utility said it reached a $1.8 billion settlement for individual claims for the 2015 leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility near Los Angeles, according to a statement Monday. The company reached separate agreements to settle property and business claims for about $40 million.

In other news: Amerisure implements One Inc ClaimsPay tech; California drivers report distracted driving is getting worse; HSB adds social media income to home cyber protection.

“Spot,” created by Boston Dynamics, known for its viral robot videos, and customized for Farmers, a P&C insurer, is the first collaboration of its kind.

The pandemic has served as a catalyst for putting digital transformation across insurance on the fast track, and claims is one of the focus areas that is primed for implementing digital capabilities. As more claims information is captured and managed digitally, new opportunities to leverage artificial intelligent technologies arise. This leads to a vision of full automation, high levels of straight-through processing, and (logically) a diminishing role for claims professionals.