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3G vehicle cameras playing key role in driving down fleet claims costs

3G vehicle cameras are playing a crucial role in minimising insurance claims but fleets need to have the right processes in place to optimise the technology and take advantage of first notification of loss (FNOL).

3G vehicle camera

Some fleet operators are already achieving claims cost savings of up to 50% from 3G vehicle cameras

That was the view of speakers at the Claims Technology Seminar, a joint event held by Intelligent Telematics, accident management company Sopp+Sopp and Collision Management Systems for over 45 professionals from the fleet and insurance sectors.

At the event, speakers highlighted how some fleet operators already achieving claim cost savings of up to 50% thanks to 3G vehicle camera technology.

“Rapid liability assessment and third-party intervention are essential when reducing claims costs, so being alerted and having access to immediate video footage of an incident along with supporting telematics data is essential,” said Aron Sopp, head of call centre operations controller at Sopp+Sopp. “Nevertheless, automated crash notification is only truly effective if an organisation can quickly respond to the situation, speaking directly with the driver and then anyone else involved.”

Other benefits of faster claims handling and fault identification were outlined, including increased brand protection, avoidance of unnecessary costs, and making it easier to detect and manage opportunistic and organised fraud. In addition, a driver or other road users can be more effectively supported following a collision and the emergency services contacted faster should it be a serious incident.

The event also saw the pitfalls of using SD card cameras highlighted. Sam Footer, head of international business and strategic development at Intelligent Telematics, said: “In our opinion SD card devices are now redundant technology as there is no live connectivity to provide immediate access to footage or enable the cameras to be maintained remotely. This means fleet operators are reliant on drivers proactively reporting a collision straight away and not tampering with the data. In addition, there is a significant risk of lost or corrupted data from SD card failures, which can be as high as 30%.”

The seminar also highlighted the challenge faced by fleet and insurance businesses to effectively monitor and identify crashes pro-actively.

“Setting a device to the required sensitivity to effectively detect collisions will result in an average of 0.77 notifications being triggered by each device every day”, explained Charles Smith, CEO of Collision Management Systems. “Our software integrated with the 3G vehicle camera filters out over 98% of these events which are caused by everyday driving or poor road conditions such as potholes ensuring critical crash alerts can be identified and acted upon in near real time.”

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Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.