CCC Information Services Goes Ahead with Pilot Program for CCC Subrogate Auto Solution

Subrogation, which reportedly accounts for 3.5 million automotive claims each year, remains a cumbersome and timely manual process.

To begin combating inefficiencies, CCC Information Services Inc. is introducing a pilot program for its electronic subrogation product, CCC Subrogate Auto Solution, enabling insurers to begin using – and reportedly benefiting from – an automated solution. Subrogation is the process by which an insurance company recovers funds paid to an insured if the loss was caused by a third party.

A pilot program, beginning this Fall and scheduled to end in early 2005, will enable two national insurance companies – which represent 21 percent of the industry’s automotive claims volume – to create, send and respond to one another’s subrogation demands using CCC’s Web-based solution. Once the pilot is complete, CCC will make CCC Subrogate Auto Solution available to the industry to assist insurers in similar functions, as well as tracking, reporting, and managing the overall workflow of their subrogation claims.

“We’ve worked with many insurance carriers of varying sizes to gather requirements for developing a solution to meet the needs of subrogation professionals,” said Githesh Ramamurthy, chairman and chief executive officer of CCC. “Our discussions have confirmed that insurers are serious about managing and recapturing their subrogation dollars. The CCC Subrogate pilot program is the first step in assisting carriers in achieving this goal.”

Recent research by the National Association of Subrogation Professionals (NASP), reportedly stated that the subrogation process – from the first notification of a claim to closure – takes an average of 168 days, nearly double the amount of time insurance companies had targeted in 2003.

Through an RFP process, an advisory panel comprised of members of insurance companies from across the nation nominated CCC to build -in a collaborative manner with the panel – a subrogation product that insurance companies can use to more effectively manage the subrogation process. NASP is a non-profit trade association comprised of more than 1400 insurance company subrogation specialists, attorneys practicing in the field of insurance subrogation and vendors serving the subrogation needs of the insurance industry.

According to Griff Williams, president of NASP, “Electronic subrogation demand and response exchange will be the wave of the future. The entire subrogation process will move faster and operate on a more cost-efficient basis. Positive results from this pilot will help change subrogation – for the better – forever.”

CCC Subrogate Auto Solution is the most recent example of how CCC is leveraging its open architecture to offer products to the market.

The company has reportedly made a significant investment in its Web-based platform and continues to invest an estimated $30 million annually in product development and programming. Exclusively focused on improving the automotive claims and collision repair industries, CCC helps to eliminate barriers of communication between insurers, repairers and a range of other industry participants to more efficiently bring claims to resolution. CCC currently handles more than 1.5 million claims-related transactions each day.

“We believe the benefits of CCC Subrogate Auto Solution will accrue from improving the yield and reducing the administrative time spent by a subrogation specialist in tracking such claims. An electronic method represents huge advantages in cycle time alone and that’s just the beginning,” added Ramamurthy.