ILC ARTICLE

ILC Breakfast News – Wednesday 15 June

15th June 2022

Motor

Stage set for Motor Claims Showcase event 

The full agenda has been revealed for the ILC/ARC360 Motor Claims Showcase Event providing a full day of highly engaging and interactive elements for attendees. 

Headline sponsored by Enterprise, along with sponsors EDAM Group, and supported by ILC and ARC360 corporate partners, the event takes place on Wednesday 29 June at the CBS Arena, Coventry. 

ILC Rising Star: George Pangborn, Product Specialist, Solera | Audatex

Read the full interview with George Pangborn, Product specialist at Solera | Audatex here.

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Business strategies & best practices – Wednesday 15 June at 1.30pm   

In this webinARC we explore the latest in vehicle incident repair management strategies and best practices as we speak to some leading names from across the motor claims supply chain and discuss the direction of travel.   

Featuring:  

– Garry Bloom, senior operations manager, Davies Group  
– Ruth Moring-Beale, national sales director, Morelli  

– Neil Marcus, Marketing Director, Selsia Vehicle Accident Centres Ltd  

Home

Specialist ILC conference hailed a huge success 

Collaboration and a greater understanding of how technology can deliver sustainability benefits were the key messages to come out of the ILC specialist conference, The Environmental Challenges of Property Claims, which took place at etc venues, in London on 9 June. 

Sales surge offset by inflation 

The Construction Products Association has reported that the sector continued a strong upward trajectory in the first quarter of 2022, despite the rising prices of materials. 

It found that 43% of heavy side manufacturers and 50% of light side manufacturers reported increased sales, although profits were dampened by a 21.9% rise in the price of materials along with other inflationary factors, such as fuel costs. 

Construction output dips after record March 

The Office of National Statistics has revealed that construction output in April fell by 0.4% compared to March. This is the first monthly decrease since October 2021, although the dip comes after a record monthly level of £14,994m was set in March.  

The ONS attributed the decline to a fall in repair and maintenance projects of 2.4%, which was only partially offset by a 0.9% increase in new work.

Ofgem calls for new measures 

Ofgem has published its review of the industry’s response to Storm Arwen last November, which saw nearly a million homes in Britain lose power, nearly 4,000 of which for more than a week. 

Its review includes 20 recommendations to prevent what it calls ‘unacceptable service’ levels in the event another storm.  

Among the recommendations, distribution network companies must present winter preparedness plans to Ofgem for assessment, they should stress test their websites and call centres to ensure they can cope with surges, and they must ensure that timely and accurate compensation is available to affected households. 

QuestGates completes C&S acquisition 

QuestGates has acquired third party motor claims handling specialist, C&S Associates.  

C&S will be incorporated into QuestGates with founding directors Mike Smith and Chris Chamberlain offering consultancy support to QuestGates Director of Third Party Services Stuart Lansdown, who assumes control of the day-to-day running. 

He said, “C&S has a long-established track record and the skills the team brings will complement the existing expertise within our third party services team and adds to the capabilities of our motor team, enabling us to now provide a true end-to-end service for motor injury and third party property damage related claims. We are delighted to welcome the team on board.”

ClaimsTech

How tech is tipping the claims journey 

Technology is playing an ever-increasing part in the claims journey, but is it always being implemented with the customer in mind? 

That was the question during the latest ILC webinar – ClaimsTech 2022: The story so far – which considered the impact new tech is having both on claims and the customer, and what developments might be coming next. 

CoreLogic announces Hub upgrade 

CoreLogic has added new functionality to its PAS Hub that supports multiple lodgements on a job by enabling measures to be managed within one or many Retrofit Plans.  

The functionality also enables customers to split jobs into stages, which allows them to pause certain parts of the job without disrupting other parts. 

Mastercard unveils smooth payment link 

Europe Mastercard has unveiled Pay by Link, a new payments feature that will allow customers to make instant payments in any given context by simply clicking on a link. 

Rune Mai, CEO of Mastercard company Aiia, said, “With a simple link, we make it easy and secure to pay a bill on the go with a bank account without having to enter or remember payment details. Pay by Link gives businesses the opportunity to accept and receive payments anywhere and reduce friction in the entire payment flow.” 

Industry News

Davies talks up for speech analytics 

Head of Desk for Property Claims at Davies Group Laura Harvey has championed the wider application of speech analytics to improve customer experience and reduce fraud. 

Only 12% of insurers use analytics technology, but Harvey believes it can quickly identify fraudulent claims during the initial call while also improving efficiencies by enabling more data to be collected and analysed to identify trends. 

Industry rallies behind UN campaign 

The ABI has revealed that among its members, 90% of the long-term savings market and 50% of the general insurance market have now signed up to the UN’s Race to Zero campaign. It also found that 94% of those not yet signed up are considering doing so. 

Hannah Gurga, ABI Director General, said, “There is no greater risk to society, our planet and to our sector itself than climate change. The role the insurance and long-term savings industry has to play has never been greater or more important.  

“We have made significant progress on the transition to Net Zero and it’s good to see so many of our firms sign up to the UN’s Race to Zero campaign. However, we need to continue to focus our efforts on this greatest challenge and collaborative working across the industry, and with Government and regulators, will be key.” 

Unemployment levels largely unchanged 

UK unemployment between February and April was recorded at 3.8%, a fall of 0.2% on the previous quarter. This is according to the labour market overview published by the Office of National Statistics.  

It also reported that salaries increased by 6.8% when bonuses were taken into consideration and 4.2% when they weren’t. However, in real terms it found that pay fell on the year by 2.2% when adjusted for inflation. 

MGAA appoints new tech manager 

The Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) is supporting further growth with the appointment of Tim Richards to the newly created role of Technical Services Manager. 

He will be responsible for helping the MGAA grow membership, develop new technical content and pro-actively engage with governing and industry bodies. 

Mike Keating, CEO, MGAA, said, “Tim’s appointment compliments our three-year vision to have the MGAA recognised as the Third Force within the UK general insurance market. He will play a pivotal role in developing relevant technical content for the benefit of all MGA community stakeholders.”