CCC Intelligent Solutions estimates auto claim volumes are down approximately 6% year-over-year, with a slight increase in the number of vehicles that are totaled, according to a Q3 company earnings call. 

Githesh Ramamurthy, CCC’s Chairman and CEO, said that typically, 79% of vehicles are repairable and 21% are total losses. However, current data shows a shift to about 76% repairable and 24% total losses. 

Multiple variables are causing the change, Ramaurthy said. This includes changes in used car valuations and newer vehicles costing more to repair. 

Ramamurthy said vehicle miles and number of accidents don’t show a material change. 

“At least more importantly, our customers don’t think there’s a material change,” Ramamurthy said. 

The increase in the cost of insurance premiums over the past 18 months also plays a part in the decrease in claims, Ramamurthy said. He said consumers are reluctant to file claims, which would likely increase premiums. 

“The belief from our customers and what we see is that will even itself out as you go forward in another quarter or two,” Ramamurthy said. “So we are not factoring any material increases in claim frequency.”

While claim volumes were down, CCC increased its total revenue for Q3 by 8%. Total revenue was $238.5 milion for the quarter, up from $221.1 million from last year. 

CCC said in a press release that its sustained performance is a reflection of multiple new business wins, renewals, and contract expansions. 

“We believe that our investments in artificial intelligence, the CCC IX Cloud™ platform, and our multi-sided network position us to continue to deliver new, high-ROI solutions that improve the operating efficiency and consumer experience of our customers’ mission-critical workflows,” Ramamurthy said in a press release.  “The high level of customer engagement we are seeing with our emerging solutions reinforces our confidence in our long-term growth outlook.”

Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. also reports net new body shop wins were partially offset by mixed headwinds and lower body shop activity, according to a press release. 

However, the company’s Q3 net sales increased 0.8% year-over-year to a third-quarter company record of $1.32 billion. Net income increased 40% year-over-year to $102 million for a net income margin of 7.7%. 

Carl Anderson, Axalta senior vice president and chief financial officer, said on the company’s Q3 earnings call that the lowering of expenses for raw materials, energy costs, and freight helped the company deliver a great quarter. 

“Regarding ROCE [return on capital employed], we remain well supplied across the commodity base. We view most markets as balanced at this time, with pockets of inflation remaining, but slightly better than expected on softer overall market demand,” Anderson said.

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