How Fleet Management Software Can Reduce Hassle in Insurance Claims

Let’s face it, insurance claims are a pain.  Even when you’re able to hand the negotiations over to your insurance company they take up time you don’t have to spare.  The good news is that fleet management software can reduce hassle in insurance claims and make the whole process much more straightforward.

Evidence gathering

When you first contact your insurance company about a claim, they’ll probably ask about evidence first.  It’s important to establish the facts, whether you’re making a claim or have had one made against you.  Sometimes this is easy. Hopefully, if your driver is involved in an accident they’ll tell you straight away so you have all of the information you need.

However, it isn’t always that simple.  You might find yourself receiving a letter of claim relating to an accident you’re not aware of. Your driver’s memory of the accident might have faded but you can check your fleet management software records to find out whether the vehicle was at the scene and whether there’s any other evidence to support the claim.

Accident footage

When you’re notified of an accident, capture any footage that’s available straight away.  Dash cam footage and CCTV can show exactly what happened allowing fault to be established quickly.  If footage is only retained for a short period it may be deleted unless you ask for it to be stored until the claim is finalised.

Camera footage is useful both when you’re making a claim and when you receive one.  It can be particularly useful if your vehicle sustains damaged whilst it’s parked.  You might not have any human witnesses to tell you what happened. If your dash cam is motion activated you may be able to recover your repair costs rather than having to foot the bill yourself.

Driver behaviour

Of course, there are always those claims where each side gives a different version of events.  If dash cam footage isn’t available, you can still gather evidence from the data that your fleet management software has collected.  Your fleet management data can tell you how the vehicle was being driven before the accident occurred, for example if it was speeding or being driven erratically.

Even more importantly, monitoring this data can help you to prevent accidents occurring in the first place.  Stressed drivers are more likely to take chances and make mistakes. Fleet management software can help you to identify patterns and take action to improve driver behaviour before it becomes an issue.

Access to records

Your insurance company won’t just look at liability when there’s been a claim.  They’ll also want to know about costs.  Providing this sort of information can be very time consuming as it’s often held in different places.  However, your fleet management software can help make it more straightforward.

If your fleet management software collates information about vehicle maintenance costs this can allow you to present accurate data showing how much the post-accident repair cost quickly and easily.  There will also sometimes be arguments relating to the vehicle’s pre-accident condition.  Your software will allow you to access analysed data showing the vehicle’s service history.  You can also store detailed maintenance information for quick retrieval if necessary.  It means that you don’t have to send endless emails trying to collate the information from lots of different departments.  It’s all in one place.

To discover how fleet management software can help to make your insurance claims more straightforward, get in touch.