Crashboxx Telematics announces the release of Crashboxx DENT, a web-based software tool that creates forecasts of the material damage cost to vehicles involved in crashes. The software allows a preliminary repair cost estimate to be performed during the initial call with the policyholder, providing insurers with actionable intelligence, at the beginning of the claims process, instead of later when the car in already in a body shop.
Crashboxx DENT (Damage Estimates in Near Real Time) is designed to improve the efficiency of claims operations for p&c carriers.
"A big challenge in the insurance claims process is the correct disposition, or triage, of a vehicle following an accident," says Peter Byrne, president of Crashboxx. "Usually, the vehicle is towed to a local body shop, which will write up the cost using estimating software. But frequently, the outcome is the vehicle is, in fact, a total loss, and not repairable. The cost of storage, estimating fees and transport to the correct location, e.g. a salvage auction, is borne by the insurer. There are 18 million claims annually, of which 17 percent are a total loss. Each time a body shop handles a total loss, (an unrepairable car), the insurer is billed about $325. This adds up to about $1 billion annually in the U.S., and is wasteful."
The current release of DENT is targeted for use by claims call center staff, to help them make an initial estimate of the dollar cost of the collision at first notice of loss (FNOL). Jeff Jenkins, VP of Design Engineering for Crashboxx reports that "the claims staffer chooses the vehicle, make, model and year from a drop down menu, and obtains an estimate of the pre-crash speed, location and other variables."
DENT, using the same scientific principles employed in in the vehicle development process, performs the operation in seconds delivering a report displaying the crash location on a Google map, the severity, crush inches, and a forecast of the dollar cost to repair.
"The new DENT application is an expert systems tool permitting insurers to perform triage much more accurately on their vehicles, lowering cost by sending total loss vehicles directly to the salvage auction, and shortening the claims process overall", says to Greg Bayley, Crashboxx CTO. "Using predictive analytics we are helping automate the cost estimation of the damage at the first point of contact with the insurer, which is the call to the insurer's call center".
Bayley explains DENT can be easily adapted for insurance telematics applications, where data from the onboard black box or EDR (event data recorder) can be input automatically, generating preliminary cost estimates in real time."
Crashboxx Telematics, based in Fort Collins CO, is a developer of advanced vehicle telematics and machine to machine solutions for insurance (PAYD, UBI, Claims), fleet, consumer and offender management markets.
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