Resolve claims up to 60% faster with our Concierge service

Transport operators are busy, and insurance claims often go to the end of the queue when assigning tasks. Our research has shown that many transport operators don’t feel they have time to get repairs quoted or completed. That’s particularly the case for vehicles that are still drivable after an incident. 

Our Claims Team set out to solve this problem. As a result of their work, we changed the way we receive information from customers. Our goal was to streamline the process – from notification to repair assessment and authorisation – for vehicles still drivable following a claim.

“We know how to fix vehicles,” says Deb Robertson, NTI’s Customer & Improvement Manager. “We have links with our repair network. The whole idea was to make things simpler.”

“Some customers can’t get quotes because they’re on the road all the time. But that’s when the repair shops are open.

“So we discussed it with our repairer network and asked them to think out of the box.”

Your Concierge is waiting

This out-of-the-box thinking led to NTI’s new claims process – ‘Concierge’. It starts when customers lodge a claim. We send them a link they can use to upload images and other information. 

Our assessors then reach out to our NTI Premium Repairer and NTI Local Repairer networks, using the customer’s information to complete a quote online. If that’s not feasible, we arrange a quote onsite at a location convenient for the customer (such as their workplace or home).  

“Most of the time, you don’t actually need to see the truck in person,” Deb says. “By taking images, we can get a quote. Sometimes we’ll come back and ask for specific shots, but once we have the information we need, we can order parts and get things moving.”

This enhanced process makes the experience more than 60 per cent faster for the customer.  Once quoted, repairs are booked in at a suitable time. That might mean making repairs across multiple weekends or after-hours. This out-of-business-hours scheduling allows driveable trucks to stay on the road. It also minimises disruptions to business-as-usual.

Even the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t slowed things down too much. “One thing that we never planned was that we were able to help both repairers and customers in lockdown,” Deb says.

“We’d check in with our repairers. If they were open, we would contact our customers in the same areas and organise to get their trucks fixed while they weren’t using them.

“That way, they were ready to go when they reopened. And it helped keep our repairers in business.”

There’s no doubt that customers and repairers alike value the service – and why wouldn’t they? Since its introduction, more than half (51 per cent) of eligible customers have elected to use Concierge. Customer satisfaction is extremely high, at 94 per cent. 

Better information means better safety

Through Concierge, we learnt that getting more timely information from customers meant we could better understand their vehicle damage and assess whether the vehicle was drivable.  

In some cases, we identified potential safety problems and had vehicles towed immediately to a repairer.  This step ensured that the driver was safe, their repairs could be fast-tracked, and any further incidents avoided. 

“We’ve had quite a few cases where, once we got the images, we deemed the vehicle was unroadworthy,” Deb says. “So we have a customer on the phone saying, ‘I need to drive home, the vehicle’s all good,’ but we can see it just can’t be on the road.”

“It’s not the customer’s job to know that, so we educate them. We want them to stay safe.”

Deb estimates that happens around 10 per cent of the time. That’s 10 per cent of trouble avoided and possibly lives saved.

Solving customer problems

When COVID hit, transport operators were already facing their usual business challenges. Added problems, from being locked down to being asked to make more deliveries to more customers as online shopping took off, only added to the pressure. 

Having a damaged vehicle in the yard – or on the road – is just one more problem to solve. But Concierge helps all parties involved in an insurance claim by solving several key challenges: 

• Customers: want guidance and support to get repairs done without taking up too much of their time and with minimal business disruption.
• Brokers: want a faster process that reduces follow-ups and extra phone calls with customers and insurers.
• NTI: wants damaged trucks repaired and back on the road to keep drivers and other road users safe and transport businesses operating.

Our initial focus was on helping customers provide the exact information we needed to triage repairs and fast-track replacement part procurement. But the system soon grew to encompass getting vehicles booked in for repairs at locations and times convenient to customers’ work requirements

“It was a combination of things we’ve done in the past,” says Deb. “The key was just listening to our customers. It’s opened up so many ways to help them.”

“They said they wanted more information, so now we give them more feedback during the repair process. We can provide all that information upfront instead of customers having to call or text for it.

“It’s all about removing inconvenience for the customer.”