Subsidence claims online

Crawford & Co to reveal claim information and status to policyholders by Helene Dancer

Crawford & Co will be the first UK loss adjuster to give homeowners online access to their subsidence claims, with the launch of an internet service which lets domestic policyholders monitor their claims online.

The service, which will be available on Crawford's UK website, is due to go live next year.

Crawford's national building services manager Robert Sharpe said: "Some homeowners felt they were not being kept in the loop, so we decided to build a site where they can get access to their stored information."

Sharpe said that there is an ongoing issue that the customer never feels the homeowner is sufficiently informed and can appear to a disadvantage if the insured is not kept up to date.

"This service also aims to cut down on phone and mail traffic, as the reason most people phone is to find out about their claims," he said.

Sharpe said there would be an illustrated time bar on the page, which shows the status of the claim. "There will be key milestones on the time bar. With this quick visual representation, homeowners can see where their claim is in reality."

Crawford is also launching another online service called ePRIME in September. Prime business system manager Peter Ward said that ePRIME would give specific groups of users the ability to see data from their own assignments.

The users will initially be insurers and certain corporate carriers but Ward said the service would ultimately be available to all outside Crawford.

"Users will also be able to register a claim on ePRIME, which will be recognised as a new case instruction," he said.