05/29/2020 by Val D'Anna
When Brian Savoy was hired by Metromile in October 2018, some of the assets he brought to his new job immediately helped him contribute to this innovative, pay-by-the-mile insurer. One was a relevant skill set honed from working at a Top Ten insurance company and a major vehicle rental/leasing operator. Another was an allegiance to I-CAR. One of Savoy’s earliest recommendations as Metromile’s new physical damage & estimatics manager was to start training with I-CAR. It was green-lighted, and Savoy registered the company’s adjusters for the APDA Platinum ProLevel® 1 package. In less than a year, Metromile was Gold Class® and its adjusters were Platinum™.Just in the first quarter 2020, Metromile is “ahead of the curve, already qualified for Gold Class renewal,” says Savoy. Committed to maintaining I-CAR Gold Class and a Platinum APDA staff, Savoy did not hesitate to allocate his 2020 training budget, which was approved last year, to enroll the insurer’s seven adjusters in ProLevel 2 courses. All but one of them had completed their Platinum renewal as of March. Savoy, who’s currently APDA ProLevel 3, has been taking I-CAR courses since 2004 and is a Platinum holder since 2005.
Describing Metromile as a “technology-driven car insurance company,” Savoy knew he could make a strong case to introduce I-CAR training on the basis of fast-advancing technology in vehicles. “I told my boss with all the new technology coming out, like sensors, aluminum and high-strength steel,I-CAR was aligned with our commitment to training, customer safety and satisfaction, and accurate estimates.”
Metromile is connected to its customers through a wireless device called the Pulse that connects to a vehicle OBD port and measures mileage. A smart driving phone app monitors a vehicle’s health, summarizes trips, detecting collisions, and more; about one-fifth of claims are processed completely through automation. “We’re a unique company using cutting-edge technology,” Savoy says.
Savoy has faith in I-CAR as “a neutral organization that wants vehicles to get repaired properly.”
Just as I-CAR is “committed to doing things right,” Savoy says that “training with
I-CAR is the right thing to do.” Savoy plans to prepare next year’s training budget to allow the Gold Class standard to be maintained.
Savoy also depends on I-CAR’s Repairability Technical Support® (RTS) Portal for resources to use in weekly adjustor training, recently using a technical article on scanning and a search tool to look up information on BMW requirements. “Our adjusters use RTS on a daily basis. I like that the RTS newsletter points out when new procedures are released. I’ll go to our adjusters and ask, ‘Did you read this?’” Savoy also sends adjusters to job shadow at body shops and uses training materials supplied by the insurer’s estimating software provider, CCC. Although his 2020 annual training budget is already spent, training doesn’t stop. “You’ve got to get creative. You’ve got to keep training.”