There’s a mathematical equation that insurance companies hate. It goes like this: The longer the time between an incident and the first notice of loss, the greater the claim.

It makes sense if you think about it. Everyone has a friend who was in a fender bender and suddenly remembered that their golf clubs, their mom’s mink coat, and their collection of rare glass sculptures was in the trunk of their car at the time of the accident. And, of course, all of it was damaged beyond repair and must be figured into their insurance claim.

It’s the kind of wink-wink, nudge-nudge fraud that destroys an insurance company’s combined ratio and drives customer premiums through the roof. Up until now, there wasn’t a whole lot insurers could do about it. But with the integration of video into the claims process, all manner of fraud can be prevented in a way that benefits both the insurer and its customers.

Preventing Insurance Fraud with Video Documentation

Video is a safeguard against insurance fraud throughout the entire life of a policy. When a policy is first written, video establishes a baseline condition for a vehicle or property so that any subsequent damage can be visually verified against the original document. When claims against that vehicle or property come in, insurers no longer have to worry about paying for preexisting damage. With video, it was either there or it wasn’t.

Video also protects insurers against undisclosed damage or deferred maintenance before they authorize coverage. Underwriters can see for themselves exactly what condition the property is in before binding. Avoiding bad policies prevents fraudulent claims and keeps loss ratios intact. You can’t eliminate all the risk associated with insuring a customer, but with video you can minimize it.

Accelerating First Notice of Loss (FNOL) with Guided Video

Now, let’s say one of your customers is in an accident or has some property damage due to a storm or fire. Rather than send an adjuster to the scene, you can send a link to your customer that allows them to record a video of the damage. By including step-by-step instructions, insurers can give their customers everything they need to capture the damage from all relevant angles at first notice of loss. No more blurry photos, incomplete details, or uncorroborated evidence to sort through. You’ve got everything you need to immediately start processing the claim without having to worry that your customers will come up with new items that were damaged. For the customer, video allows their claim to be processed faster so they can restore the property to its original condition much sooner.

Improving Underwriting and Claims Efficiency Across the Enterprise

Think about the other benefits of video as well. Especially when it comes to internal efficiencies. Verified video documentation all but eliminates in-person physical inspections and renders shaky desk reviews obsolete. Your team can verify insurability or assess risk without ever having to leave their home base. And you can make decisions faster and more confidently.

By incorporating video into their processes, insurers can streamline operations across the entire enterprise. Video replaces the time and travel costs associated with site visits for even the most minor claims. Now you can reallocate those resources to manage more complex claims. In fact, insurers can cut inspection and field adjuster expenses by up to 80% and free up their underwriters and claims teams to process three-to-five times more files per day.

Securing Audit-Ready Evidence with Chain-of-Custody Video

Video provides other tangible benefits that act as an insurance policy for insurance companies. All media files are timestamped, secured within a chain of custody, and delivered in consistent workflows, so underwriters and adjusters can work from a single source of evidentiary truth for the life of the policy. There’s no longer any reason to sift through caches of emails and texts in mismatched formats to prove your case. Video gives you audit-ready, defensible evidence from underwriting through settlement. And SIU investigators have all the proof they need to root out fraudulent claims.

Even after settlements have been made, there’s always the possibility of supplemental repairs. Technicians may find damage that even video didn’t reveal. In those cases, body shops can submit guided video of that hidden damage so adjusters can quickly approve any additional costs without having to go back and re-inspect the vehicle themselves. This eliminates delays in repairs, defrays the cost of rental cars, and gets claims closed faster.

Transforming the Insurance Industry with Video Technology

Insurance has traditionally been one of the most inefficient and fraud-riddled businesses in the world. With so many blurred lines between what was fact and fiction, new and pre-existing, real and fake, there was no way to avoid significant losses. While video doesn’t solve every problem facing insurers, it does drastically reduce the most consequential. As the insurance industry adopts and utilizes video, customers and insurers will begin to see each other as allies rather than adversaries.

To find out how insurers can increase efficiency and maintain profitability, visit our Insurance page, fill out the form below, and download our whitepaper: The Fraud Prevention Gap: Why Pre-Loss Documentation Is Key.