ESTIMATING SYSTEMS
If you participate in several direct repair programs (DRPs), you're aware that each carrier has different key performance indicators (KPIs) that must be met to ensure payment. And to help ameliorate some of the confusion when complying with each company's standards, a newly upgraded programmable estimating system aims to reduce supplements and disputes with insurers by catching appraisal anomalies before a vehicle enters the bay.
"It brings your attention to certain lines on the estimate," saysVern David, manager at Central Body Works in liakersfield, Calif."It gives us a gentle reminder from the get-go instead of getting a reminder from the insurance company."
Central has been previewing the recently released Accumark Advisor version 1 . 1 from CCC Information Services. The shop gives the system high marks for its performance capabilities.
"It can make our operation more efficient," says David. "It s a tool for us to help meet the key performance indicators of the different insurance companies.
"We manage multiple DRP relationships, each of which has specific guidelines for us to follow and different KPIs for us to meet," he says. "We can double-check estimates before we send them to the carrier, enabling us to write more-complete estimates and reduce the number of estimates requiring supplements.This saves us valuable time and resources."
Wasted production efforts are reduced when an estimate at odds with a carrier's recjuirements is detected early in the process, he says.
"You can address that up front and avoid that phone call or e-mail," he says.
As an example, David cites a fender repair and the choice of affixing an OEM, aftermarket or used replacement. "We run that (through the program) before we do the lock and estimate."The system will flag the procedure if the insurer's KPI guidelines specify a non-OEM product. "It gives us an opportunity to look for an alternative part."
Central is thus in position to justify installation of an OEM fender if, say, a salvage piece is not available within .111 allotted timeframe or an aftermarket version fails to meet Certified Automotive Parts Association (CAPA) standards.
"I fix the cars the way the insurance company wants it done," he says. "I may get beat up on this (among industry colleagues), but KPI benefits all of us. It makes us more profitable because we're going to stay on their programs. They're more profitable because it keeps the cost of their claims down, and I'm more profitable because it keeps work coming through the door."
The system also allows you to obtain proper payment, says I )avid. as it challenges, "Why did you choose this particular part, and did you miss any procedures that you should be getting paid for?"
'Like a spell-check'
"This is designed to help both the carriers and repairers with one tool," says Debbie Day, CCCs senior vice president of marketing and product management. "It's a real-world program based on actual DRPs." And Day says the process is not overly complicated
When both parties are on the same page, the entire collision repair process is made more efficient, she said. Body shop owners were instrument.il in developing it.
"Increasing vehicle complexity and varying insurer-specific guidelines have made estimate writing more complicated," she says. "You can put 'stickles' up (by your computer) to remind you on what the standards are, but this does it automatically. It's like a spell-check."
Version 1.1 of the Accumark Advisor includes some 70 new "rules" in addition to the 1 1 5 rules available in the original version of the product, which is an integrated feature of the company's Pathways Estimating Solution.
Accumark Advisor is accessible by clicking on the "audit" button within the estimate. Estimates are automatically reviewed against each insurer's established DRP guidelines, which the body shop enters into the system.
[Author Affiliation]
James E. Guyette
News Correspondent
[Author Affiliation]
JAMES GUYETTE is a freelance writer who also writes for our sister publication, Aftermarket Business. In our news section this month Jim reports on MQVP's bankruptcy, giv- ing car-buying tips to parents with college bound kids, flood cars in the marketplace and a new DRP-specific estimating system.
No comments:
Post a Comment