Zurich pilots Digilog

Zurich confirmed this week that it has launched a two-month Digilog lie detector pilot on a selection of its motor claims.A Zurich spokeswoman said: "We have just started a voice stress analysis (VSA) pilot on a small number of motor claims which have been identified as high risk." The spokeswoman added that the pilot, which began earlier this month, is planned to run for around two months.Zurich is the latest insurer to trial Digilog's VSA technology. Admiral, Allianz Cornhill, Cox and HBOS are among the other insurers to have run similar pilots.In October last year, Admiral disclosed results of a Digilog pilot run on motor theft claims. In the trial, around 20% of motor theft claimants withdrew their claim after being assessed by VSA technology. Digilog claims that VSA detects if a claim is truthful by measuring the frequency patterns of claimants' speech.VSA technology has been seen as a significant threat to the future of loss adjusters.Trials carried out by Digilog on motor theft claims at Highway Insurance showed that VSA technology had reduced the number of loss adjuster instructions by 50%.But loss adjusters argue that insurers will always need adjusters to carry out field investigations and face-to-face interviews where language barriers, for example, are a common problem.

Insurers that have run lie-detector trialsAdmiral - ran trial on motor theft claims that resulted in one in five claimants withdrawing their claimAllianz Cornhill - currently undergoing a four-month trial on household and motor claimsCox - announced a pilot on motor claims in November 2003Highway - became the first insurer to use lie detectors when it began a pilot on motor claims in 2002HBOS - began a pilot on household lines in September 2003Zurich - began pilot on motor claims in March 2004