The use of technology for claims assessment has seen a sharp rise in recent years, and now seems like the perfect time to put it to the test - however, EQC’s deputy chief executive Renée Walker says that remote assessment tools may only be useful for “fresh” events with primarily cosmetic damage.
With New Zealand’s alert status now at level three, insurers and tradespeople will have more leeway to conduct in-person assessments and repairs. Walker says these are vital for repairs in areas such as Canterbury, where the timing and scale of the damage is much harder to determine without an in-person visit and assessment.
“There’s a lot of claims assessment technology available, and a lot of the big third-party assessing companies use technology all the time, particularly over in Australia,” Walker explained.
“We are looking at what those options are, and whether this is the right type of event to use them for.”
“The issue we have with some of these more recent claims is that the homeowner probably has a previous claim in relation to the Canterbury earthquake event,” Walker explained.
“So there’s a whole lot of work that we’d need to carry out to assess whether this is new or existing damage, whether it has been repaired previously, etc.”
Walker says that technology involving remote assessment tools, photography and video can be useful for a one-off event striking a previously unhurt area where the damage is mostly on the surface level. However, assessing a home already impacted by a previous earthquake is a much more complicated exercise.
“These technologies are still quite exciting,” Walker said.
“Claimants can use a laptop and a phone to remotely show the assessor around the property - but again, this only really works if it’s cosmetic damage. If it were structural, we’d still need to go out and look at floor levels, foundations, etc. and validate that damage.”
“However, these tools have been used very successfully in Australia for natural disaster events, fires, etc., especially in more remote areas,” she concluded.
