7 minute read
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
Photo Estimating Technology Is
Ahead of Its Time – Literally! by CHARLES BRYANT
Insurance companies are touting photo estimating technology as the way of the future. Well, they may be right as long as they make sure they emphasize the future. Insurers are taking the position that the photo estimating process is the fastest one ever created to handle auto property damage claims. Well, based on documented cases here in New Jersey, the opposite is true. It is taking much longer to get through this estimating process than the traditional way of having either a staff appraiser or an independent one come out and physically inspect vehicles and prepare an estimate on the damage discovered through that inspection.
On top of that, based on actual documented cases, the traditional method of physically inspecting damaged vehicles is much more accurate. Now, I am sure the insurance industry is not going to like this information being revealed, but the truth is the truth. The reality is the photo estimating process is causing much more harm than good. Please allow me to explain.
Time and time again, we have seen cases where a collision shop will go along with an insurer and do that carrier’s job by taking photos of the vehicle damage, preparing an estimate and sending the photos and the estimate to the insurer as requested. However, when the insurer responds, the estimate it sends back to the shop only covers a fraction of the damage the shop discovered during the actual physical inspection. When the shop questions the insurer about why its estimate is so far off from the original, the response is always basically the same: “That’s all we can justify based on the photos you provided.” Naturally, the shop’s response is, “Well, then you need to do your job and get out here and physically inspect the vehicle.”
The insurer then responds with something to the effect of, “We no longer have appraisers available to perform the inspections, so you will need to take more photos and send them and maybe take them in a better lit location.” Although this often infuriates the shop owner, they will follow the request and take more photos under better lighting and send them to the insurer. However, what happens next is even more frustrating. More often than not, the supplemental estimate the insurer sends back this time is only for a few hundred dollars – which is still thousands of dollars off from the shop’s estimate that was based on an actual physical vehicle inspection. This often goes on for several weeks until the insurer decides that the vehicle is considered a total loss based on the last supplement it wrote. However, when the shop submits the bill for the storage and administrative services provided during the weeks it took the insurer to finally come to this conclusion, the insurer’s response is, “We are not going to pay storage until the vehicle became a total loss based on the last supplement.” Well, the truth is, the vehicle became a total loss when the two vehicles
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collided; it just took the insurer five weeks to figure it out because of the photo estimating process. The reality is that the insurer owes for the storage fees during the time it played the photo estimate game and the vehicle was in the care, custody and control of the shop. This is because of the “Duty to Protect” provision in the vehicle owner’s policy that actually commits that carrier to paying for the protection of the automobile from further damage while waiting for repair. Had this insurer actually performed a physical inspection of the vehicle in the first place, it is extremely likely that it would have deemed it a total loss right from the start. The photo estimating process may work for minor dents or minimal damage, but it is in no way advanced enough to prepare accurate estimates on major collision damage. Rather than expedite the process on heavily damaged vehicles, we have seen case after case where the photo estimating process repeatedly causes major delays. The insurance industry needs to accept the hiccup and withdraw the failed photo estimating process on heavily damaged vehicles until the process is advanced enough to handle preparing accurate estimates – if that is ever possible. For now, we will be watching and keeping our members aware as we go forward. I can be reached on the AASP/NJ Hot Line at (732) 922-8909. Any comments are welcome.
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