LONDON, June 23, 2022 — WTW (NASDAQ: WTW) has announced the launch of new price inflation forecasting technology for insurers. The ground-breaking tool uses Audatex’s repair data, which covers 98% of all UK vehicles, augmented by machine learning and comprehensive historical data analysis by WTW. The technology has been developed to predict inflationary effects on vehicle repair costs for multiple vehicle categories, with unparalleled granularity, as validated on historical data.
Traditionally, insurers and underwriters have used a single inflationary figure across the board for predicting the future cost of vehicle repairs. However, the UK vehicle population has never been more complex, with the range of fuel types, manufacturers, and transmission types, making blanket pricing policies for underwriting inefficient and ineffective.
These challenges are further compounded by the UK currently having the highest inflation rate in the G7, with Brexit, COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict combining to create unprecedented supply chain challenges.
“This tool offers significant competitive advantage. In such a volatile market, access to accurate cost predictions gives underwriters the ability to avoid underpriced business.”
Stephen Cox | Head of Data Partnerships, Insurance Consulting, and Technology at WTW
Stephen Cox, Head of Data Partnerships, Insurance Consulting, and Technology, at WTW, said: “This tool offers insurers a significant competitive advantage. In such a volatile market, access to accurate cost predictions gives underwriters the ability to avoid underpriced business, while also making their service more attractive to those consumers who will no longer face prices that are unduly high owing to being based on an average of all vehicles.”
Tom Hart, Head of Account Management at Solera Audatex, said: “By making it possible to differentiate inflationary allowances between vehicle makes and models, this new price inflation tool allows insurers to boost their bottom line and offer more competitive pricing to customers.”
Solera is the global leader in vehicle lifecycle management software-as-a-service, data, and services. Through four lines of business – vehicle claims, vehicle repairs, vehicle solutions and fleet solutions – Solera is home to many leading brands in the vehicle lifecycle ecosystem, including Identifix, Audatex, DealerSocket, Omnitracs, LoJack, Spireon, eDriving/Mentor, Explore, cap hpi, Autodata, and others. Solera empowers its customers to succeed in the digital age by providing them with a “one-stop shop” solution that streamlines operations, offers data-driven analytics, and enhances customer engagement, which Solera believes helps customers drive sales, promote customer retention, and improve profit margins. Solera serves over 300,000 global customers and partners in 100+ countries. For more information, visit www.solera.com.
For Audatex UK, visit www.audatex.co.uk
WTW’s Insurance Consulting and Technology business has over 1,200 colleagues operating in 35 markets worldwide. It is a leading provider of advice, solutions and software – primarily to the insurance industry. Its consulting services help clients manage risk and capital, improve business performance, and create competitive advantage – by focusing on financial and regulatory reporting, enterprise risk and capital management, M&A and corporate restructuring, products, pricing, business management and strategy.
At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organisations sharpen their strategy, enhance organisational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximise performance.
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