Auto-Quote aids NRMA online claims venture

News Extra

NRMA has for the past two years been developing its Online Repair Management program, launched into sections of the crash repair sector recently. Auto-Quote was involved right at the beginning of the project and has been working with the insurance giant to ensure the project runs smoothly and benefits the industry as a whole.
NRMA approached all the major software providers in the Australian crash repair industry two and a half years ago to work with the company to develop a common file structure, in order for repairers and the insurer to be able to communicate electronically. Business management company Auto-Quote decided from the outset that it would work with NRMA to develop a common file format. Twelve months later Auto-Quote was participating in a pilot with 12 repairers and two other system vendors in the Canberra region. "If it wasn't for these repairers being prepared to deal with all the pitfalls, put up with drop-outs and other errors and help fine-tune the system, the whole process would have taken a lot longer," says Gavin McGahey, Auto-Quote operations manager. "The whole process has taken an enormous amount of time and resources to work out. We have taken countless trips down to Canberra and up to NRMA's Sydney headquarters," he adds.
Auto-Quote was established in 1984 by then bodyshop owner Terry Flanagan, and the business now employs 38 people, including directors, sales staff, programmers, parts interpreters training staff and distributors. Terry Flanagan still operates his bodyshop; TR Flanagan Smash Repairs, at the Auto-Quote site in Penshurst, south Sydney. It is this connection to the crash repair industry that McGahey believes sets Auto-Quote apart from other estimating and business management companies. We are very fortunate to have a brilliant mix of people from the trade and high intelligence IT sector. [McGahey himself used to own a panel shop on the New South Wales Central Coast] and we know what our clients' needs are. Our systems are developed by repairers, for repairers."
It was this perspective that the company was keen to put across when dealing with NRMA and its new Online Repair Management system, says McGahey. "We wanted to help create a system which could benefit not only the insurer, but more importantly, the repairer as well."
IMA has begun to roll out the system in NSW and Victoria through NRMA and RACV and with board approval, the system should be rolled out into other NRMA companies such as SGIO and SGIC. NRMA's recent purchase of State Insurance in New Zealand means the program is also likely to be rolled out across the Tasman.
Repairers should benefit from the scheme through less administration, greater turnaround of job authorisations and a speedier estimating process. The initial point of contact between repairer and insurer in the new system comes via an XML (extensible markup language) message over the internet from the insurer, requesting a quote from the repairer. The bodyshop then assigns their estimate to that request, attaches images to the estimate and sends the quote, via the internet, back to the assessing centre. The assessor views the estimate and images and then sends back the authority to repair along with any changes. This messaging process follows the job right through to invoicing and payment authorisation and will complete with EFT (electronic funds transfer) at some stage in the future.
If NRMA rolls out the system across all of its companies, it will be a real challenge in terms of the scale of the project, says McGahey. "This system will have to be able to handle up to half a million claims a year, which is a tough challenge. This is the real crunch year."
NRMA has asked other insurers to participate in its scheme and aims to promote the basis of its system as the standard communication method for the entire industry. "It would be nice if we didn't go down the road that the UK and US industries went down where repairers needed to have three or four systems in place in their shop in order to deal with all their work providers, and instead had a universal messaging system in Australia," says McGahey.
Other insurers are looking at their own online initiatives and it will remain to be seen if any one standard system will be adapted. Auto-Quote is presently working with HBF Insurance in WA, for instance, on its own system, which has been operating in its bodyshops, all using the Auto-Quote software systems, for some 18 months. The company has also recently developed and completed a system for QBE/Mercantile Mutual. With the frenetic pace of buyouts and takeovers in the Australian insurance industry however, it will be hard to work out what will happen in the coming months.
McGahey adds that repairers should be looking to add online estimating and business management systems to their shops if they do not already use one because insurers are increasingly using that as part of their selection criteria for their repair networks. "There will always be the need for small shops which can rely on car yard and rust repair business, but that is probably going to be their limit if they don't ramp up their investment. It's gear up, get on or get out."
It is not only repairers that must look to the future however; Auto-Quote itself always has an eye on the long-term. "We put in an incredible amount of time to make sure our systems won't be superceded in three years time. A few years ago significant technological advances came about every three to five years, now we have to review things on a six-month basis -- that's how rapidly things are changing -- it's very time-consuming and costly to stay on top of things," says McGahey.
The company puts in a lot of effort to ensure repairers can take advantage of this technological expertise, setting up training seminars every two months to allow repairers to become proficient with all of our modules including e-commerce. The company has an 18-computer training suite able to be utilised by repairers as part of their support fees.
NRMA is committed to rolling out its Online Repair Management system and its uptake among repairers is particularly critical given the roll-out of NRMA's Preferred Smash Repairer scheme and the possible extension of this DRP to other NRMA companies. "You can sit on the fence on this sort of thing or get in at the beginning. We made sure we were involved from the outset," says McGahey.