Insurers are being urged to give brokers more responsibility to independently progress motor claims as a way to speed the process and reduce costs for all parties involved.

AAMC Strategic & Relationship Manager Daniel Lukich says an “overlooked but crucial element of an intermediated motor claim” is the time from the incident to the initial broker contact through the registration with the insurer.

Current complexity and inefficiency could be alleviated by giving brokers the authority and discretion to refer a motor claim on to a case management service, he told a webinar examining delays in initiating an intermediated motor claim, attended by insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“Underwriters do this already with property claims. What difference is there between a flood and fire claim in a business, compared to a commercial truck or machine? You'd think there would be none, but motor appears to be all down a one stream approach with some of the major underwriters,” Mr Lukich said.

“You allow brokers to immediately notify your panel adjuster builders [for a] make safe. We're not too dissimilar to that, we are case managers and loss adjusters to motor.”

While an online $800 personal lines policy can result in “a car being repaired tomorrow without too much stress,” an intermediary claim from someone spending “$10,000, $20,000 or $30,000 with a broker doesn’t get that sort of service at all, it’s very much a clunky claim-form follow up and elongated process”.

“In the intermediated sector, we're leaving things to chance and hoping it goes down the right path,” Mr Lukich said.

“The lodgment registration process hasn't evolved in line with, say, personal lines.

“The customers are on their own. Sure, the broker will offer advice and guidance to the best of their ability, but unless they have some delegated authority, it's really over to the customer.”

He says the claims handler should be “hooked into the decision-making when the claim is registered” for earliest identification.

“Make us all accountable with an overarching claims excellence strategy,” he said. “Define clear criteria for brokers to appoint the supply partner at the initial claim. Under key criteria determined by the underwriter, advise AAMC. This is where control of the outcome kicks in, and it is day one.

“Make it really clear – if it's a car park damage in a metro location with a dry or wet vehicle, leave it to us, but if it's a semi trailer on its side in Outback NSW, well let AAMC know and they'll get on the job.”

This benefits brokers as they provide “tangible value to their customers because something is happening immediately”, there's minimal inconvenience, and it offers the insurer more control over elements that currently don’t get looked at until claim registration, he said.

Motor claims involving intermediaries on average take 21 days from the date of loss to AAMC being appointed, and this can be significantly faster if all parties work more collaboratively, he says. An assessor could be held accountable for the outcome within three days.

Currently for brokers, “there's no option but to be reactive,” he says.

“We see these gaps and delays as compromising the ability of that insurer to set the claim up for success in terms of overall costs, controlled administration, efficiencies and customer satisfaction,” he said.

“Even the best (insurers) have to think of ways to improve in this area.

“It hasn't really been evolved and it's still very much built around a claim form call centre which is really past the used by date, I don't think anyone will disagree.”

Mr Lukich wants workshops with key brokers to identify best practice and outcomes for all, and says without engaging and testing with brokers you're “basically working in a vacuum and making assumptions on what's going to work.”

“We need to involve the broker. Find out from the brokers exactly what the pain points are.

“Brokers deal with this every single day – they're chasing insurers up for information, ringing their contacts at insurers to move things along. Unless we involve the front end of the claim, which is larger fleets that have claims every day and brokers that experience this, we become a long way from solving it.

“We need to build a model with meaningful activity that influences claims outcomes as early as possible,” Mr Lukich said.