Insurance Australia : IAG releases IAG Quality Report for property and motor repairs

For the fourth year in a row, the IAG Quality Report has delivered insight into the partnerships and quality standards IAG has with some of Australia's most experienced motor and property repairers to provide customers with more quality, value and service.

The report found potential safety issues in 23 out of 32,665 quality inspections and quality issues in less than 1% of authorised motor repairs. In the property space, 23 out of 5,562 authorised repairs had potential safety issues and 2% of authorised repairs had quality issues. These issues were subsequently rectified.

Head of IAG's Supply Chain, Steve Bubulj said the report focuses on the standards used to respond to customers in their time of need, the capability of emerging technologies and the need to build more specialised skills to fill the jobs in the future.

'Under our quality repair program, IAG has audited nearly 200,000 inspections of motor vehicles and more than 30,000 property inspections since the inception of our quality program, which shows repairers are continuing to meet the high standards we expect,' Mr Bubulj said.

'Where we have identified issues, we have worked closely with repairers to rectify them.'

Repair standards

The report reinforced that partnering and working with motor and property repairers improves the customer's experience because it gives policyholders the confidence and certainty to know that they will receive a quality repair when they have a claim - no matter which IAG brand they insure with.
'The move towards efficient repair facilities that are capable of fixing cars quickly is becoming the norm, and the standards applied to repairs must not be compromised,' Mr Bubulj said.

Emerging technology

Partnering with repairers who have modern equipment and up to date knowledge and skills, is critical to the way IAG continues to help its customers recover from incidents.

'The speed that customers want more diverse products and at the lowest possible cost continues to rise, which means traditional ways of delivering products and services and how we engage with customers' needs to adapt,' Mr Bubulj said.

'We try to use the latest technology available to help our customers. As Australia's first insurer to leverage the capability of drones to assess a property after a fire, flood or storm, we know it can improve the customers experience during a claim because assessors can get immediate access to the property, removing potential safety issues and speeding up the claims process,' Mr Bubulj said.

Skills and training

IAG continues to support the growth of the smash repair industry with initiatives such as AutoPath - a joint initiative between IAG, TAFE NSW, Auto Skills Australia and the NSW Automate Training Board. AutoPath has succeeded in securing apprenticeships for young school leavers including 19-year old Maxine, who is now an apprentice spray painter.

Key findings:

Motor Repair Quality data

• More than 32,600 detailed inspections completed by our motor assessors or quality assurance auditors
• Less than 2,000 repair issues reported requiring minimal re-work
• 100 issues logged relating to alleged repairer fraud

Property Repair Quality data

• More than 5,500 detailed inspections performed by our home assessors or auditors
• Less than 900 quality issues reported that required minimal re-work

'We hope that by publishing our data in this transparent way and highlighting the major themes impacting our industry, we can help maintain the industry's high quality standards and continue to meet customer expectations,' Mr Bubulj said.

IAG has also released a video to accompany the report providing key highlights and profiling its motor and property repair partnerships. The video can be seen here.