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Radhika Menon
Mayur N. Shah

`Will reduce turnaround time for approval to 4-6 hours'

Mumbai June 10 Motor insurance firms and car companies are signing up for new software that will help them process insurance claims faster.

The turnaround time for settling claims, which now takes a couple of days to a week, could shrink to a few hours. Maruti Udyog Ltd and Tata Motors have signed agreements with Audatex, a division of a US-based company, ADP Private Ltd.

Audatex provides software that allows manufacturers, insurers and repairers to process claims online. Hyundai also plans to implement new software for faster settling of claims. Maruti, Tata Motors and Hyundai account for nearly 80-82 per cent of auto industry sales.

Audatex's software has data of the latest price of auto parts across car models, and the labour time required to repair or replace them. Surveyors submit an online report (including images of the damaged cars), and insurance companies view this online and approve.

Standardisation

"This will reduce turnaround time for claims approval to typically 4 to 6 hours. It will bring in standardisation of repair payout, control the cost of processing claims and record vital statistics to help insurers take claims and underwriting decisions," said Mr Pankaj Kapoor, CEO, Audatex India.

"We are also pushing for a central database to be created, which can be tapped by all insurers to prevent multiple claims break in insurance and other types of malpractices."

"Maruti and Tata Motors plan to have our system implemented across their approved repairer networks. Both have tied up with insurers and they have agreed to use our systems for processing claims of their cars," he said.

Amongst the insurers, New India Assurance, National Insurance company, Tata AIG General, Royal Sundaram, and ICICI Lombard have started using Audatex's software at some locations. These insurers account for the bulk of the motor insurance market.

Claim settlement

Motor insurance, which contributes 40 per cent of the premium of the non-life market, has been facing claims ratios of well above 100 per cent. Analysts say that companies are now focusing on claim-settlement to make motor insurance a more profitable venture.

"Currently, every item of repair of every claim is negotiated, rather haggled. In the future, insurers will have terms profiled into the system and only a small portion, say 15 to 20 per cent, will be negotiated," said Mr Kapoor.

Hyundai Motor India is also conducting pilot tests on software developed by a Malaysian company that will reduce the processing of claims to a few hours.

"Besides reducing turnaround time, we can make a comparison between dealers of the same region and correlate their performance with respect to accident repairs, models and sales," said a senior Hyundai official.

Hyundai currently has tie-ups with ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Allianz, MS Cholamandalam, New India Assurance and United India Insurance.

More Stories on : General Insurance | Roadways | Software | E-Commerce & E-Business

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