Instant intervention following a driving incident can reduce insurance claims cost by as much as 60%, according to Ben Burford, managing director of Just Fleet.
He says vehicle operators need to take control of the claims handling process and ensure instant intervention to avoid spiralling third-party hire and repair costs as well as prevent incitement of some injury claims.
“By controlling claims from start to finish at the earliest stage possible after an incident occurs, the ability to better manage third-party costs in increased significantly, generating considerable indemnity spend savings,” explained Burford.
“We were recently able to intervene on behalf of one of our clients following a collision, which resulted in a settlement of just £750 compared to a potential cost of up to £5,000 if the claimant contacted their own insurers.”
Just Fleet claims to be the first dedicated motor fleet insurance broker in the UK where every vehicle is fitted with a 3G front facing accident camera.
As a result, it receives real-time notification of high level events, such as accidents or near misses, with video footage, g-force and speed of impact data available via an online interface within five minutes.
This combined with a 24/7 monitoring station means the company can quickly and effectively prove blame, increase speed of intervention and assist policyholders, says Just Fleet.
A first notification of loss expert guides a person reporting the incident through the process of making a claim, outline liability decisions, and book the vehicle into an approved repairer or an engineer inspection slot.
Furthermore, they are trained in trauma management so they are well-placed to ensure the wellbeing of claimants who may have been affected by an incident, says Just Fleet.
Burford continued: “Fleet operators have a significant opportunity to reduce insurance costs by adopting a process that takes charge of the situation using industry expertise to better control costs and get a vehicle back on the road as quickly as possible to minimise operational impact.
“For example, we are able to hire vehicles at 40% below recommended ABI rates and have vehicle off the road levels of just six days compared to an industry average in excess of 30 days.”
L Hill - 16/05/2014 13:01
If it works, its fine. I often recall when I returned a substitue hire car well early, to be questioned by my BIAS insurer,why i did that. My reply that we all have a duty to mitigate costs, and I felt that I no longer needed the car was dismissed with some arrogance. From that moment on we didnt have any help, although it was clearly not our fault. Industry investigations since have shown us why. Now we know better.