Smart Digital Payments Bring Consumer-Like Experience to Auto Repairs and Insurance Claims Payouts

Michael Boeke, VP of Payment Product Management Enterprise at CCC Intelligent Solutions, told PYMNTS that the trillion-dollar property and casualty economy needs to continue its digital overhaul.

An accident, he said, represents “an event that is often a major disruption to someone’s life.” The claims processes, he said, are anything but simple, streamlined or easy to navigate.

Within the automative and issuance industries, there remains a complex web of interactions, with several players in the mix, spanning consumers, insurers, repair shops and others.

And as complexity reigns as these parties communicate with one another, as invoices and of course payments flow between stakeholders, said Boeke, there are any number of pain points that can be improved.

“Businesses traditionally have not had the tools they’ve needed to make quick decisions,” said Boeke, “to communicate with their customers and get things resolved quickly.” As a result, it takes time, and sometimes a long time, to figure out what a repair will cost, for the insurer to review the accident and claim and ascertain whether it will be covered, calculate the payment … all the while keeping the consumer updated day by day.

“Each of these steps have required significant human effort and energy,” said Boeke.

In the meantime, the emergence of the eCommerce economy, he said — Amazon’s only one visible example — has shifted consumer expectations about how and when they interact with businesses. They expect speedy responses when they have questions or concerns. The rise of digital payments, especially P2P, has spurred consumers to value faster payments, and to have funds deposited, electronically, into their accounts or digital wallets.

“You’re getting to a point,” he said, “where you essentially have ‘no’ steps that are required to complete a transaction.”

Engaging via the Platform

The platform approach, he said, aided by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, offers a good foundation upon which to build new experiences and improve the communication flows tied to claims and payouts. Platforms, said Boeke, “enable frictionless payments to be completed … and can be a larger component of an intelligent experience that ties things together … and helps people make better decisions at scale” as claims proceed step by step.

In tracking the platform-enabled workflows, he said that a policyholder can take a photo of the damaged vehicle, contact the insurer, while taking their vehicle as quickly as possible to the repair shop. AI can help make the determination, based on pre-configured rules, if the vehicle is salvageable or must be written off.

The shop gets the digital go-ahead to move forward with the repair … and automatic messages flow between all stakeholders. In the meantime, the vehicle owner, prompted by the insurer to pay their deductible, can satisfy the obligation online, with a mobile device in hand, with their preferred method of payment. And the repair shop, with the funds in hand from the insurer, gets the work done more quickly. Zelle and digital wallets, he said, can speed the flow of funds. The same methodologies can help improve the B2B payments that take place in the background as parts are ordered, and even to the individual mechanics, as work must be recorded and paid for.

The shift to digital channels has a positive impact across the P&C industry, he said, benefiting insurers margins. It can cost $12 to print and mail checks, and cutting down on the paper means that consumers cut down on trips to the bank.

“You get rid of the ‘sleuthing and detective’ exercises,” he told PYMNTS, “when you connect an intelligent platform that informs all the different parties of the status of these payments, and you eliminate a lot of the friction.”