Thatcham Research and WTW combine data
WTW and Thatcham Research have announced a new partnership that combines their data and analytical capabilities to deliver a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of increasingly advanced vehicle technologies on claims risk.
Vehicle technology is experiencing a seismic transformation and the pace of change adds new complexity for insurers, putting them under pressure to achieve a more sophisticated picture of claims data relating to the many varying features of new vehicle models.
Claims leaders, underwriters, pricing teams, reserving actuaries and senior management need to understand the extent to which these novel risk factors are driving new claims trends. For example, which vehicle features represent the highest claims risk, higher inflationary costs, or actual savings, such as from reduced injury frequency and severity.
Containing data for over 50,000 vehicle variants, the unique Thatcham Research dataset Variant Code provides data granularity on the growing variety of standard and optional features in UK vehicles, while WTW’s Claim Metrics platform provides deep analysis of claims activity in the personal lines insurance market, benchmarking over £17bn of motor claims.
The tie-up will see Variant Code’s vehicle specificity combine with Claim Metrics’ data and analytics to give insurers far deeper, richer insights of emerging trends in claims risks at a granular level in terms of claims characteristics, geography and vehicle type.
Tom Helm, head of claims consulting, WTW, said: “We are excited to announce this new partnership, which delivers a powerful combination of two unique datasets, supported by market-leading analytics, that offers insurers exceptional levels of insight into emerging claims trends driven by changes in vehicle technology and, as a consequence, the opportunity to benchmark claims performance at a more precise and granular level.”
Daniel Payne, chief digital officer, Thatcham Research, said: “Vehicles are set to change more in the next five years than they have in the last 50. Combining the uniquely granular data and sophisticated analytics capabilities of Variant Code and Claim Metrics is a win-win for insurers. Empowered by new levels of insight, claims, underwriting and pricing teams are able to make more informed decisions, and price according to the specific features of a particular model variant. This capability is fundamental to maintaining competitive advantage, as vehicles evolve and technologies that were once the preserve of high-end models increasingly become available at entry level.”
