Remote claims assessment
Assessment of damage from photographs, videos or a video call, without the adjuster traveling; now the majority practice for simple motor claims, it speeds up settlement but opens new fraud routes.
Traditional assessment requires travel: the adjuster examines the vehicle at the garage or the building on site, observes, measures, costs. Remote assessment replaces the trip with images. The insured or the repairer sends photographs and videos following a protocol, or the adjuster directs by video call an inspection carried out by the insured with a phone. In motor, the practice has become standard for simple body damage, and approved repairers send their photographs and estimates directly to adjusters. In household, it is used for water damage and small losses. It grew strongly during the pandemic and then stayed, for three reasons: lower handling cost, shorter settlement times, and a processing capacity that absorbs claims peaks after a catastrophe. Image analysis tools now offer automatic repair estimates. The practice has limits. It cannot see hidden damage, a vehicle's structure, moisture in a wall. It opens new fraud routes: photographs of another vehicle, retouched or generated images, old damage passed off as new. Hence metadata checks, manipulation detection and keeping physical inspection above certain amounts.
Textbook case: an insured reports a minor collision and sends six photographs of a dented door. The image analysis tool detects from metadata that two were taken two years earlier, and on a vehicle of a different color: the file is routed to physical inspection and investigation.
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