Increased water damage claims fuel new claims technology
The latest claims technologies accelerate the mitigation and estimating process and improve the customer experience.
Mother Nature doesn’t make Atlantic hurricanes like she used to.
Since Hurricane Matthew in 2016, we’ve noticed a much greater incidence of water and flood damage versus wind damage related to hurricanes. Hurricane Harvey in 2017 set the high-water mark, dumping more than 27 trillion gallons of rain over Texas.
It remains the wettest Atlantic hurricane on record, affecting 13 million people and causing $125 million in damage. That same year, Hurricane Irma produced rainfall totals of 10-15 inches across much of the Florida peninsula and Keys, and Hurricane Maria dumped up to 38 inches in Puerto Rico. In 2018, Hurricane Florence became the wettest tropical cyclone on record to strike the Carolinas, dropping 20-30 inches of rain in a large part of North Carolina.
At QBE, we’ve seen more than 50% of hurricane claims starting in 2016 involve water damage. For Hurricanes Harvey and Florence, the percentages exceeded 80% and 70%, respectively.
Whether or not these facts conclusively point to a long-term trend driven by climate change remains to be seen, but they certainly indicate the need to consider new responses for addressing water damage. While stronger building codes and better materials have helped with wind damage, water continues to be a vexing challenge. Post-loss response time is critical for water and flood loss to prevent mold and other complications that can greatly increase the cost, scope and duration of repairs.
Fortunately, new technologies are helping to combat this trend toward water and flood loss. Here are a few…
Faster, easier and better targeted forms of communication
When a home or business has been damaged by a hurricane, or when the damage is unknown due to an evacuation, establishing that first communication with the insurance carrier can provide a huge emotional relief for the customer. The sooner it can happen, the better. Early communication also improves the speed of mitigation efforts, which is especially important for water and flood damage.
Proactive messaging: Technologies and procedures that support proactive messaging immediately before and after the storm can aid in this regard. By mapping storm track predictions with insured locations, highly targeted emails to customers in harm’s way can alert them to last-minute safety measures and remind them of the options to report a claim during times of peak call volume.
AI assistants: Virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence can be especially useful during peak claims volume after a hurricane, when customers are anxious for a response and claims professionals are looking for every extra bit of help to keep up. This year at QBE, we rolled out a service called TextQBE with an intelligent virtual assistant that can automatically acknowledge receipt of a claim via text and help update and move QBE customers through the claim process in a quick and simple fashion.
The assistant can provide contact information for the assigned claims professional, answer simple questions about deductibles, and confirm receipt of photos and other documents rapidly on a mobile device. It has proved especially helpful when customers have had to evacuate their homes and have no access to landline home phones or home computers for email.
Faster estimating
The destruction of structures often grabs the headlines, but most buildings suffer minor damage from hurricanes. Addressing the minor losses quickly and efficiently, especially water losses, prevents the potential complications that arise when the claim process stretches out and customers grow frustrated.
Unfortunately, the limited availability of licensed field adjusters after a hurricane can be a tremendous bottleneck for moderate to minor losses, since the priority is to get to the major losses. The good news: new technologies and processes can alleviate this bottleneck for licensed, on-site field adjusters.
Virtual inspections
For minor losses, specialized smartphone apps can eliminate the need for an on-site inspection. A claims professional in a faraway office can direct the customer in real-time through a video-calling app to survey the property and take and upload pictures of the damaged areas as the basis for an estimate. We have found this option can cut the time of the estimating process by 40%. Plus, it gives the customer a greater sense of convenience and control while eliminating the need to schedule an inspection. And the apps keep getting better.
We have recently started using one that guides the customer in taking exterior pictures of the house from different angles. The app then combines the pictures using an algorithm to render an accurate 3D model of the home with measurements to accelerate the repair estimating process. While a technology-armed customer can often self-inspect small losses, moderate losses frequently require an expert to visit the location. By using similar technologies, the expert does not necessarily need to be a fully licensed adjuster.
Guided by a claims professional through interactive technology, the experts can perform and document the inspection for the claims professional to review. In one case, we are working with a mitigation vendor that equips experts with a 3D camera for interior pictures that can quickly and accurately measure interior dimensions in a small fraction of the time it would take with a laser measuring device, shortening cycle times.
These experts can relieve the problem of tight labor supply after a hurricane and get to the moderate claims faster, leaving the licensed field adjusters to concentrate on the complex, large losses.
Damaged item valuation
Water damage and flooding from a hurricane can ruin large amounts of building contents, and documenting damaged or lost items and setting a valuation can be both stressful and time-consuming. Fortunately, new online tools can make the process much easier for the customer.
By uploading pictures and any supporting documents that exist, the online platform can create an inventory and set valuations where gaps in documentation exist. In especially complex cases, the online service provider can send a forensics expert to visit the property and assist in documenting property losses.
Smarter vendor selection using data and analytics
The quality of vendors engaged after a hurricane greatly affects the customer’s experience as well as the outcome of the claim.
Traditionally, the decision of what vendor to use has depended on the type of claim, the services provided and geography covered by the vendor, and the claims professional’s general sense of the vendor’s reputation. Data and analytics holds the potential to support a much more effective decision-making process. We’re looking at analyzing metrics such as cycle times on past claims to bring a more granular, performance-based approach to the decision.
We are still in the early stages of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, and as we approach the months of peak activity, it remains to be seen if water will continue to play an increasing role in losses. By taking advantage of the latest technologies to accelerate the mitigation and estimating process and improve the customer experience, carriers will be prepared if it does.
Monique McQueen, AVP-Catastrophe Claims at QBE North America, has nearly 20 years of experience as a claims professional and has served as head of QBE North America’s Catastrophe Claims team since 2016. She can be reached at Monique.McQueen@us.qbe.com.
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