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Virtual estimating service and Mitchell partner to ‘reduce claims processing time’

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Mitchell International announced Wednesday that it has begun powering a new virtual estimating service from Collective Sourcing, created for U.S. auto insurers.

The service is designed to reduce claims processing time by combining Mitchell’s damage appraisal technology with auto technical specialists at Collective, a news release from Mitchell says. The specialists produce estimates on demand based on photos — “assisting carriers in their delivery of a more streamlined, digital claims experience,” Mitchell said.

Collective chose Mitchell’s technology for its new virtual estimating service, a Mitchell representative told Repairer Driven News. Before introducing Collective’s virtual appraisal service, the companies completed a pilot program with one insurance organization, which wasn’t named, that lasted over two years and generated more than 300,000 estimates.

“The estimating process is the most important driver of a policyholder’s digital satisfaction,” said Collective’s Managing Director Jeff Waack, in the release. “However, insurers are meeting customer expectations just 35% of the time, according to a recent J.D. Power study. The use of our on-demand estimating service with Mitchell’s technology can help carriers exceed consumers’ digital delivery expectations for far less expense than traditional appraisal methods.”

Collective uses Mitchell’s Guided Photo Capture, WorkCenter Assignment, and Cloud Estimating solutions so:

    • “Consumers can quickly submit vehicle photos through an insurer-branded web application;
    • “Carriers can automatically route assignments to Collective;
    • “Collective’s skilled and licensed auto technical specialists can efficiently generate virtual estimates.”

“The launch of this on-demand estimating service is yet another example of the value that Mitchell and its technology bring to auto claims handling,” said Scott Kozak, Mitchell’s senior vice president of insurance client service, in the release. “Through our collaboration with Collective, we look forward to helping P&C carriers in the U.S. reduce settlement time, enhance policyholder satisfaction, minimize claim costs, and safely return vehicle owners to the road.”

During the Collision Industry Conference’s July 2023 meeting, its Estimating and Repair Planning Committee discussed how the terms “estimate” and “repair plan” are drastically different and shouldn’t be used interchangeably in the collision repair space.

“Essentially, an estimate is just that: it’s to give it a quick lookover of the damage itself,” said Danny Gredinberg, Database Enhancement Gateway administrator. “Truly what we are doing more and more of is a repair plan.

“A repair plan is something that requires a disassembly of the vehicle, having a staging area within your facility, having a parts cart set up to separate the damaged parts from the current parts that are being removed, [and identifying] repair procedures.”

Ryan Mandell, Mitchell’s director of claims performance, shared during the meeting how Collective is using technology and gig workers to write low-severity estimates.

“It’s essentially the Uber of estimating,” he said.

Mandell added that many of the Collective appraisers are retired appraisers, body shop estimators, or other industry professionals who were vetted by the company to ensure they have the right skills and experience to write estimates.

Collective workers are paid $8 per estimate and typically spend 10 minutes reviewing files before providing an estimate, Mandell said.

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Featured stock photo provided by AndreyPopov/iStock

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