Safelite Debuts App for Mobile Estimates

Aug. 8, 2018
In what it claims to be a "total disruption to the insurance industry," Safelite claims its new app that creates mobile estimates can shrink the traditional 14-day claims-to-payment cycle to one day.

August 8, 2018—In an effort to streamline that first-loss claims experience, Safelite and Ingo Money have teamed up to provide instant payout of auto claims, enabled by a one-time use mobile app that moves along the claims process for the consumer, reported PYMNTS.

In tandem with Ingo Money as the push payments payout engine, Safelite's senior vice president of strategic client sales and support Jon Cardi said the company can shrink the traditional 14-day claims-to-payment cycle to one day.

“This is total disruption within the insurance industry,” he emphasized, and on a significant scale.

Cardi said there are 20 million auto claims a year, with 70 percent of those collisions resulting in a dented, but drivable, vehicle.

Smartphones with apps, Cardi said, are the claims-processing game changers, turning the process from a friction-filled game of telephone tag with an agent to a self-service process via a mobile app.

A consumer who’s been in an accident—where there’s damage, but the car is drivable—is asked to download a one-time mobile app and upload photos of the damage, along with a short video. An estimate is sent back to the consumer within an hour. Should the end consumer accept the estimate (and they may not, if the damage is deemed not worth fixing by the owner), funds are disbursed instantly for use at the auto shop for the repairs. Should there be ancillary repairs needed, the company can facilitate funds pushed from the insurance firm directly to the body shop.

This cuts a significant number of steps where, in the traditional process, an FNOL would be filed—taking its place as the initial report to the insurance provider that some damage has been done. Then, there’s normally contact from the insurance provider, and there might be an adjuster needed to ascertain the damage.

Making the move to digital, Cardi said, does more than simply expedite a claims payment to a consumer who’d like to repair their car. Freeing up businesses from the shackles of paper-chasing means better transparency, cash flow management and even better customer satisfaction.

Beyond the time savings, there is the added advantage of bottom-line efficiency, too, said Cardi. He noted to Webster that “there is a top 10 insurance writer that has seven-figure issues with checks being fraudulently cashed. They are paying body shops and are paying customers, but checks are being intercepted and they are paying the claim twice.”

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