Working auto claims in states across the country allows Auto Claim Specialists a unique opportunity to witness and quantify the impact that differences within auto policies across states have on our clients, the insureds. Based upon our experience, we have developed the following position which we would be happy to discuss in detail with any State Insurance Commission personnel or staff. Please contact Mr. Robert McDorman.
- Our Position IS NOT: Every auto claim should go to appraisal.
- Our Position IS:
- Due to the tremendous volume of auto claims, the valuation of loss MUST BE AUTOMATED.
- There is no, and will never be, a perfect automated vehicle valuation system.
- The automated valuation systems approved by insurance carriers will always and understandably penalize any tendency of over-indemnification. Thus, the inevitable valuation errors will tend to be to the low side, harming insureds.
- Therefore, the right of appraisal should be mandatory in every state of our nation and should be presented to insureds as the means of resolution when values are disputed.
- With over 2.6M Total Losses in US per year, if just 5% of the automated valuations are wrong, and when they are wrong the average error is $3,650 (our average negotiated increase), that means there is an average total annual under-indemnification of at least $475,000,000!
- We expect to have the answer to the actual % of automated valuations that are wrong by at least $1,600 soon. Stay tuned!