Cover Genius expects to mostly automate claims after completing a car rental insurance case using only technology in recent weeks. 

CEO Angus McDonald told insuranceNEWS.com.au the embedded insurance group has brought claims handling in house to ensure “the best possible customer experience, differentiating ourselves from competitors and industry norms”.

The breakthrough follows significant investment in technology and the in-house claims arm. 

Cover Genius’ merchant and distribution partners are “very protective of their consumers’ experiences”, Mr McDonald says, and they investigate claims resolution times under service level agreements. 

“Claims is a labour-intensive area and it’s something we really invest in, as there is a real business reason – it helps us to get more distribution partners for our embedded programs,” he said. 

Mr McDonald says about 80% of claims are “pretty often the same sort of things”, and if the handling can be sped up, customers are not out of pocket for long. 

In its fully automated claim, Cover Genius used optical character recognition to read an uploaded damage report and agreement with the rental company. 

The claim then went to a staff member for final approval.

“That’s something we’re pretty excited about. We’re using it as a way of basically getting to, ‘Hey, this one’s ready to be approved.’ I think it means we can do a lot of our claims [automatically]. We’re excited about where that gets us,” Mr McDonald said. 

Cover Genius was founded in Sydney and turned 10 last month.