Claims data reflects change in post-pandemic driving behavior: report

By Alex Zank, Advisen

Trends in auto insurance claim counts following the COVID-19 pandemic reflect what may be a new normal in traffic patterns and congestion, according to CCC Intelligence Solutions’ 2023 Crash Course report.

Claim counts continued their slow rebound in 2022 after dropping off at the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, CCC national industry claims data shows. Industrywide claim counts increased 3.7% versus 2021, while non-comprehensive (collision or liability only) claim counts increased 3.6%. But overall claim counts were still down 7.6% from 2019, and non-comprehensive claim counts remained down 11.4%.

Liability claim counts are recovering more slowly than claims with collision loss coverage, compared to the pre-pandemic 2019. Historical claims data shows that most collision losses result from front impacts, while rear impacts cause most liability losses.

Prior to the pandemic, the winter months saw higher volume of front impacts than rear impacts, with the inverse true in the summer. This changed starting in April 2020, when front impacts remained dominant across all months. What’s more, front impacts’ share of losses remain elevated among both collision and liability losses compared to 2019, according to the report.

New technologies have enabled more people to work remotely or in a hybrid environment, but they have also contributed to more distracted driving, according to CCC.

Traffic congestion is returning, but not at the days and times as were typical before the pandemic. Traffic now builds later in the day and during non-peak hours. As a result, the overall share of vehicle crashes during typical rush hours is down. Across the 10 largest U.S. cities, drivers are putting on more miles but driving significantly less in downtown areas.

“Less congestion and greater driver distraction continue to drive changes in accident and claim characteristics,” wrote CCC. “How these claim characteristics differ tells us that traffic patterns are potentially permanently changed from pre-pandemic.”

Typically, drivers are getting older and favor heavier vehicles. And while new vehicle technology makes vehicles safer for occupants, the features do little to nothing to protect those outside of the vehicle, such as pedestrians. Pedestrian accidents have increased four percentage points to 20% of all accidents since 2011.

Vehicle technology also complicates repairs. Mechanics are spending more time running diagnostics. Technology also requires more replacement parts. These advanced parts are getting more expensive, increase the time of repair, and depress repairers’ profit margins, as they make most of their money on labor rather than the replacement components. As repairs grow complex, repairer efficiency has decreased. Shop owners indicate they cannot repair as many vehicles over a specific timeframe as they did before the pandemic.

CCC recommended insurers rely more on automation and artificial intelligence technologies to speed up the claims process and provide customization that customers now expect. It is now possible, in some cases, to create an entire estimate using automation and integrate that estimate through the entire claims process, wrote CCC.

“This has the potential to improve speed, reduce costs, and provide more personalized, one-to-one consumer experiences, because human efforts that were previously focused on estimate creation can now be redirected toward customer service to achieve differentiation,” according to the report.

Reporter Alex Zank can be reached at alex.zank@zywave.com