New vehicles are specialist cargo and require specialist solutions
New vehicles are valuable, emotive, accumulate in vast numbers and are generally unprotected. Logistics flows are global in nature with lead times measured in months. Whilst risks associated with this sector are unique, we understand them, the need for partnership and your focus on delivering beyond your clients’ requirements. After all, you have global brand names as clients and you want to provide them with the best solutions possible.
Catastrophic risks need to be understood to be underwritten. Your clients require support in the event the worst should happen. Vehicle manufacturers want visibility of data and rely on you to help them drive down damage and retained cost. They want you to provide risk management solutions that go beyond claims management services alone.
We understand the pressure insurers feel to adjust claims in line with manufacturer quality and repair specifications, irrespective of the policy conditions. We also understand their drive to ensure vehicles move swiftly through the delivery chain.
Your clients want to see better recovery levels achieved by insurers as they look to reduce overall costs through subrogation activity. Complex contracting and specialist logistics providers need to be handled by companies with a thorough understanding of the physical operations and dynamics of the sector.
Services for insurers
Click on any of the headings below to expand the information.
Inspection of vehicles to identify damages at handover, establish liability and defend claims
Handover inspections identify if, where and when damage occurs.
Sevatas provides handover inspection related services typically to logistics service providers such as vessel operators, port operators, rail and road transporters. Our services also support manufacturers, distributors and insurers identify where damages are occurring.
Large scale movements of vehicles provide an environment where damage can occur. Independent inspections provide companies with protection from potential accusations of liability relating to incurred damage.
All inspections are delivered to high Sevatas quality standards, which we believe is the best in the sector, which also provides valuable data for future damage reduction activity.
If clients require tailored inspections to meet individual or OEM standards, we can do this. We have robust training processes and a comprehensive self-audit regime to ensure our inspections are as consistent and as accurate as they can be.
Being the ‘eyes’ of the client on the ground, Sevatas inspectors also aim to identify issues and possible causes of damage before they happen.
Data capture
Our in-house data capture units are at the forefront of sector technology and capture a wider range of data to enable better analysis and event reporting. To learn more, click here.
Contact us to find out about how we can support you.
When a vehicle requires complex repair processes to remedy damages sustained en route, it is possible the repairer may not identify the most cost effective way to complete the repair.
Our Engineering service is provided by our sister company, Contior Automotive Assessors. Click here to find out more about Contior.
Engineering involves the thorough review of repair estimates submitted by repairers / dealerships to identify opportunities to reduce the repair costs by amending estimates and agreeing more appropriate repair methods. We do this whilst at all times maintaining our commitment to the manufacturers’ approved repair processes and new vehicle quality standards.
Contior’s Engineers are all proven experts in vehicle repair processes and new vehicle quality standards. We work with repairers to identify cost savings collaboratively and seek opportunities to educate repairers on the best repair processes to use.
Our service is generally delivered remotely from the desktop utilising photographs, videos and specialist estimating software. We also have the option to visit the repairer in person if required.
Examples of costs savings include:
- Identifying ways to repair, rather than replace broken parts or panels
- Encouraging the use of ‘smart’ repair processes such as cold dent repairs, polishing and brush touch ups
- Identifying examples where the need to blend painted panels into neighbouring ones is removed
- Ensuring correct part prices and discounts are applied
Contior's services is also able to dramatically reduce the timeframes associates with authorising the repairer to proceed. This minimises the delay a damage causes in delivering the vehicle to the final customer.
Service options
Our Engineering service can work in the following ways:
- For our current Manufacturer, Distributor or Insurer clients: As a ‘bolt-on’ to an existing Claims Management & Cost Recovery service
- For Manufacturers, Distributors or Insurers: As a stand-alone service to work in conjunction with your own claims management arrangements
- For Logistics Service Providers: As a stand-alone service to support your own processes to validate claims and your potential liability
The benefits of using us
- Sector leading experience, expertise and knowledge
- Multilingual validation capability
- Cost reduction through the identification of appropriate repair processes
- Improved dealer service; swift repair authorisation to minimise delays to the final customer
Contact us to find out more about how we can support you.
When a vehicle is damaged en route to the final customer, it is vital the claim is managed quickly, efficiently and professionally.
Whilst our services are directed at manufacturers, distributors and insurers, we never forget the dealer and the end customer require the claim to be handled as quickly and efficiently as possible. Repair estimates are reviewed against manufacturer standard repair techniques and times and repairs authorised quickly to minimise delays to the final customer delivery.
Sevatas investigate the cause of the damage and seek to recover the cost against the liable carrier. Where contractual terms or liability restrictions allow, we have an enviable recovery rate which is well in excess of sector averages. We deliver these through our partnership approach with all stakeholders in our sector.
Skilled analysis of claims data produces detailed statistical reports coupled with our practical experience in finished vehicle logistics means practical solutions aimed at reducing damage incidence and cost.
Whilst our services are pan-European in breadth, we also handle claims from further beyond, using partner providers in certain territories (such as China) where appropriate.
Online data access and reporting
Our claims services are delivered through our claims management system, Horizon. Built to support interactions from everyone involved in the claim, Horizon boasts a wide range of services and interactions with third party systems.
Retailers receiving a vehicle with damage are able to report their claim directly to us via Horizon. Horizon also supports the receipt of new claims reports via integrated mobile applications. To improve efficiency, recoveries are also managed via Horizon's Logistics Service Providers dedicated functionality. Clever workflow dashboards keep everyone informed of where the claim is and what needs to happen next.
To learn more about Horizon, click here. To register for an account, click here.
The benefits of using Sevatas
- Sector leading experience, expertise and knowledge
- Damage and cost reduction through data capture, reporting and risk management solutions
- Excellent pan-European dealer service; swift repair authorisation and efficient claims administration using accessible and responsive multi-lingual teams
- Massive reductions in administration; the complete service provided from damage identification to dealer payment and cost recovery
To find out more about how we deliver our results, please click here.
Contact us for more information about how we can support you.
Accumulation of high numbers of vehicles poses risks to both manufacturers and insurers. Understanding these risks, mitigating them where possible and planning for an event if the worst should happen is at the heart of our service
There are a range of hazards which can impact on vehicle logistics. These hazards vary from natural events such as flooding, storms or hail to human activity such as contamination. With access to insurer risk databases coupled with our specialists’ expertise and understanding, our service is based on helping logistics providers, manufacturers and their insurers understand these risks and to undertake the appropriate activity.
Often, mitigation activity is possible: changing operational processes can reduce the magnitude of events if they occur.
Furthermore, insurers’ premiums can be based on inaccurate or incorrect information: data can only take you so far. By auditing individual locations, we can marry data to the exact local circumstances to create a true understanding. Better understanding of hazards and the likely outcomes often leads to reduced insurance premiums and better event planning (which can in turn reduce the costs associated with a catastrophic loss event).
Contact us to find out more about how we can support you.
Effective risk management includes having a plan, ready for use, should the worst happen. Our Catastrophe Planning services are focused on helping manufacturers, or their insurers, plan for a large scale, multiple vehicle incident.
Potential scenarios include:
- Hail
- Contamination (e.g. industrial fallout, insect)
- Storms (on land or sea)
- Flooding
Working with you and partners in the logistics chain, such as compound operators, we will create robust contingency plans, ready to be implemented in the event of a catastrophic loss. These contingency plans are designed to:
- Establish vehicle condition quickly
- Ensure effective communication to all affected stakeholders
- Identify the most appropriate repair methodology to repair vehicles quickly and efficiently
- Identify blockages with the potential to delay or incur additional cost
Contact us for more information about how we can support you.
If a catastrophe happens, damaged vehicles need assessing, repairing and returning to the distribution chain. The challenges facing manufacturers, or their insurers, are awesome. Our experienced catastrophe managers are ready to help.
As every incident is different, we have a menu of services to select from:
All of these services are designed to enable the claim costs to be controlled and the vehicles repaired as quickly as possible.
The benefits of using Sevatas:
- Practical incident management and expertise
- Swifter repair processing; minimising delays for the end customer
- Cost management
- Quality assurance and control
Contact us for more information on how we can support you.
Quality is everything in the logistics chain. High quality vehicle handling reduces damage, reduces costs and helps deliver an undamaged vehicle to the customer.
Manufacturers, insurers and logistics service providers all have a need to challenge whether best practice is being implemented and where improvements could be delivered.
Our experienced Logistics Quality team can audit all elements of the logistics chain to ensure adherence to standards and that correct processes are being followed. The independent nature of our assessors ensure autonomy and transparency when reporting against a set of best practices developed over many years of experience across a wide range of brands.
Identification of operational non-conformances leads to training, process review, improved quality and ultimately lower damage levels and costs.
Audits can cover the following areas:
- Compounds – using either the manufacturer or the compound owner’s standards, audits can highlight compliance issues and track consistency variations.
- Vessels – ensuring that vehicles are loaded in compliance with the vessel operator and manufacturers standards, or checking to see that vessels are equipped to minimise damages during loading and unloading procedures.
- Road transporters – checking for example the quality of the operating procedures, equipment, loading/unloading operations and driver's clothing
- Rail - ensuring equipment, as well as loading, securing and unloading operations are compliant with handling standards.
- Route – following a vehicle from plant to final delivery provides a unique perspective on where and why things can go wrong.
- Repairer – whether PDI or dealer repair centres our auditors can check that the environment and procedures are in compliance with manufacturer standards.
The benefits of using Sevatas
- Damage and cost reduction through identification of issues and process improvement
- Improved quality processes
- Informed, experienced auditors with a deep understanding of your requirements
Contact us for more information on how we can support you.
Damage and cost can be reduced through the review of claims management processes. Weaknesses can be identified and removed through audit as well as the identification and implementation of improvements.
Problems we are engaged to help resolve are varied and global in reach. They include high damage rates and cost retention, lack of visible or reliable claims statistics, poorly functioning claims processes and administrative inefficiency as well as poor dealer service.
Our consultancy services are focused around process review and practical damage and cost reduction. Our most recent projects have included;
- Review of existing claims management processes and design of new process, carrier contracting and insurance arrangements for a manufacturer in Russia;
- Establishing a new dealer facing claims process
- Establishing new data capture processes and risk management reporting
- Introduction of widespread stakeholder Key Performance Indicators
- Revision of manufacturer / logistics service provider contracting
- Review of existing claims arrangements in selected European markets, identification of process weaknesses, cost leakages and recommendations for improvement
- Process design, provider selection and implementation of new claims administration process for distributor, and its dealers, in China
Our consultancy services are based on our deep understanding of claims processes, finished vehicle logistics and service delivery. We are uniquely placed to understand the crossovers between claims processes, logistics, insurance and risk management.
As a measure of the value of our services, we have embedded our people directly into our clients’ operations where requested.
The benefits of using Sevatas
- Enhanced understanding and issue identification
- Process improvements identified, operational inefficiencies removed
- Cost and damage reduction opportunities identified
- Methodology for delivering improvements established
Contact us for more information about how we can support you.