LF Västernorrland has used Autonet for three years and during that time they’ve both improved their vehicle claims management with a digital process and AI, as well as worked closely with us to develop the service further.
We spoke with three people from LF Västernorrland’s claims department: Lennart Törnkvist — Head of Claims, Lenny Persson — Insurance Engineer, and Olivia Strand — Claims Manager, about how Autonet helps them in their day-to-day work, reduces environmental impact, and digitalises and automates their workflow, and the progress we’ve made together over the past three years.
Lennart Törnkvist, Head of Claims
Our original intention when we started using Autonet was that we wanted an app that allowed digital assessment of damages, primarily to save the environment and our customers’ time, since we cover a geographically large area. Once we got started, we realised Autonet gave us a lot of other benefits and added value, for our customers, the workshops, and us at LF Västernorrland.
With full integration, Autonet gives the claims managers a more efficient workday, workshops a faster way to create estimates, and creates a stronger collaboration between workshops and insurance engineers. As a result, in the three years we’ve used Autonet we’ve steadily improved our customer satisfaction as well as made repairs more cost-effective, despite going through a period of inflation.
Autonet also lets us work more concretely with sustainability. For LF Västernorrland sustainability and circularity are key values, and especially the automotive industry is a sector where there are a lot of opportunities to save the environment. With Autonet that journey towards change is faster and easier, and we see the results in black and white in Autonet’s annual sustainability report.
Looking ahead, digitalisation and automation is increasingly important and crucial, which Autonet helps us develop. Our partnership creates opportunities for us to be more efficient, for the customer to get better, faster service, and for the workshops to repair cars better, without compromising on quality.
Overall, the partnership has been a success for us so far and we’re looking forward to continuing to develop together!
Lenny Persson, Insurance Engineer
As an insurance engineer, Autonet makes my job easier by helping customers choose the appropriate workshops. When cases are handled by the right workshops, we can rely more on automatic approvals when cost estimates come in, which means I review fewer cases manually. If a cost estimate does get flagged for review, it’s still easier to manage because I know the case is being handled by a workshops that prioritises sustainable repair methods, since that’s our main parameter for workshop allocation. So with Autonet we can, to a larger extent, put our eggs in the right baskets, so to speak!
Using digital assessments also makes my job easier because I get to see the customer’s photos. The customer is usually more inclined to only focus on what was actually damaged in the accident in question. Thanks to Autonet’s smart features, like asking for more angles when the damage has a certain depth, we also get the right photos, with high quality.
The reaction from the workshops is mixed, of course, and the big difference is that those who are positive about Autonet are the ones who have embraced digitalisation and want the customer to have a smooth experience. Regardless of attitude towards digital inspections, no one has said any other similar tool is better — if you’re going to use a digital process, Autonet is what the workshops want to use. They find the system simple to work in and appreciate that they can communicate more easily with the customer about repair times and updates.
If I were to sum up what it’s like to work with Autonet, it’s this: I can’t imagine another supplier of a service like this that we could work this closely with. We can come with ideas and suggestions while Torsten and Tomas actively listen and ask follow-up questions to understand what we want to achieve. At the same time they bring their own ideas, which we discuss and develop together to create the best version of the product we can. It’s a two-way exchange of ideas and experiences that’s really enjoyable and a big difference compared to if we had bought some other software solution where there wouldn’t have been room for our own customisations.
Olivia Strand, Claims Manager
For me as a claims manager, day-to-day work hasn’t changed much, but it’s faster to handle cases when I just need to send a link to the customer, instead of having to look up which workshop I should refer them to and communicate that with the customer.
That said, I notice that customers appreciate getting a link and photographing the car instead of going to the workshop for inspection, especially if they have a long drive. Most of them find the process really smooth and easy to complete because they’re guided step-by-step. Even customers who think it sounds difficult usually try, and most of the time it goes well. Customers also appreciate quickly being notified with a repair time and receiving updates via text.
Want to try Autonet and make claims management more efficient?
Contact Torsten Östervall at torsten.ostervall@autonet.se or +46734472233. You can also read more about our products and how we help different organisations in the vehicle claims industry!