Video technology wins appraisers' trust

A partnership between fellow Winnipeggers LibreStream Technologies and Boyd Autobody Inc.'s U.S. division could open the door to broader acceptance of LibreStream's mobile video collaboration solution.

The Winnipeg wireless device company conducted an extensive pilot study with Chicago-based Gerber Collision & Glass, Boyd's U.S. company, that detailed how appraisers based in a central location can write accurate estimates on insurance claims using video images generated by LibreStream's wireless video collaborative device.

LibreStream’s video technology allows auto damage to be recorded locally and appraised at another location.

Results of the study showed seven per cent greater productivity and a three-to-four per cent increase in the repair shops' ability to actually win the work from the insured parties.

"For a company like Boyd and Gerber, that can translate into up to $6 million in additional revenue," said LibreStream founder and CEO Kerry Thacher. "For an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars, those kinds of benefits are real and compelling. In terms of documenting return on investment, this is one of the best ones we've got. It shows that the solution pays back really fast."

Brock Bulbuck, president and chief operating officer of The Boyd Group, said the pilot project will continue and in the meantime, four of the company's larger repair facilities in the Chicago area will use the centralized appraiser process.

"One of our most experienced appraisers initially figured there would be no way to do a proper appraisal without actually seeing the car, but he is now a convert," Bulbuck said.

"We have proved that the overall quality of the estimating and appraising process has improved."

The Boyd Group Inc. owns about 90 collision repair facilities in the Canada and the United States, with slightly more than half in the U.S. Bulbuck said management is convinced that its appraising work will improve using the LibreStream technology, but there is still more work to do to figure out the cost benefits.

"But we are optimistic that this will have a growing and continuing application in our business," he said. "To what degree, we are unsure of as of yet."

Thacher said the case study will be used to pursue the home and property insurance market, as well.

"We have been trying to explain to them that you can write an accurate estimate using video technology," Thacher said. "But no one knew if you could or not. Now that they see you can, it is sparking a lot of interest in the larger insurance market."

At the International Autobody and Collision Expo in Las Vegas last week, Bulbuck said, LibreStream was attracting a lot of attention from the insurance industry, including those in the property and casualty business as well as U.S. auto insurers.

When LibreStream was originally formed, its target market was the complex manufacturing industry and it has made important headway in the field, establishing significant relationships with global companies like Proctor & Gamble and a large transportation equipment company.

Although the global economic slowdown is forcing many companies to delay or cut back on capital spending, it is also forcing some to seek cost-cutting measures and greater productivity.

"The economic conditions are a mixed bag for us," Thacher said. "In some situations, people get irrational and say they are not buying anything, no matter how good it is. That will hurt us in certain accounts."

But he said there are others, for instance, who have global supply chains that require travelling and working with people around the world.

"Those people are saying their travel costs have tripled and that model no longer works and they want to move to video," said Thacher. "We have people telling us that, too."

Gerber has 47 collision repair shops in the United States with about 600 employees. The company does have relationships with U.S. auto insurance companies, but that does not guarantee that Gerber will be the shop the customer will use to complete the repairs.

"Our goals were to improve appraisal accuracy and customer service and increase our workforce flexibility and operational efficiency," said Gerber CEO Tom O'Day. "We were able to achieve all those goals using LibreStream's technology."

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