Insurance, Underwriting
Eight hours to five minutes
In 2020, an entire category of insurance work became physically impossible overnight. Vehicles still had to be inspected before a policy could be issued. Nobody could go and inspect them. HDFC ERGO's answer was to hand the camera to the policyholder.
Aug 11, 2020
2 min read
The break-in problem, made worse by a pandemic
HDFC ERGO, a private sector insurance company in India, works to a standing rule: every automobile must be inspected before a new policy is issued. When a policy lapses, the vehicle goes into break-in — a mandatory pre-inspection before cover can restart. COVID-19 lockdowns broke both halves of that process at once. Policyholders could not renew on time, so break-in volumes climbed. Physical distancing meant nobody could carry out the inspection that break-in requires.The underlying process was already fragile.
Damage inspection and claims assessment at HDFC ERGO were human-intensive — and therefore subjective, slow, and prone to error. The pandemic did not create that weakness. It made it impossible to ignore.The approach: the policyholder becomes the inspector
CamCom put the policyholder at the centre of the contactless solution rather than the surveyor. That is the harder design problem: the person holding the camera is untrained, may not be technically confident, and gets one attempt. The objective set with the client had three parts. Reduce the number of break-ins. Bridge the gap between insurer and customer through a contactless process. Ensure continuity of business.The solution: AI self-inspection on the policyholder’s own phone
CamCom deployed an AI-powered remote automobile inspection system to the insurer’s end users through a mobile app.- Built for the non-technical user: Stencils and in-screen voice instructions walk the policyholder through capture, panel by panel.
- Automated condition assessment: Advanced deep learning methods evaluate the vehicle’s exterior and generate a health score.
- Straight to premium: The health score feeds the insurer’s pricing, allowing the premium to be calculated and the policy renewed instantly.
- No physical contact at any point: The full pre-inspection completes without an inspector, a location, or a visit.
The results
Measured across the engagement, FY21 to FY24:- Inspection time: 8 hours to 5 minutes. A 99% reduction in the time between request and completed inspection.
- Inspection volume: 52,819 to 196,619. A 273% increase, absorbed without a proportional increase in people.
- Mean accuracy: 83% to 98%. A 15-point improvement on the human-led baseline.
- Revenue: INR 4.6M to INR 12.4M. 170% growth on the engagement.
- 80% customer retention among policyholders who were actively on the verge of shopping around for another policy.
- A permanent visual audit trail of every vehicle assessed, with condition dated at the point of underwriting.
