Progr
Progressive Insurance[1]

If you‘ve ever been in a car accident, you know how it feels to wait for your claim payment to arrive. Insurance companies love to hold the money as long as possible to keep every penny of interest.

Progressive Insurance is the notable exception to the industry rule: It tries to pay as quickly as it can – by getting claims adjusters out of the office and onto the street where they can interact with clients. The logic behind such a radical notion? Happier customers and more productive claims reps will more than make up for the lost interest revenue.

At Progressive, that radical notion is based on IRV, which stands for “immediate response vehicle,” a fleet of SUVs loaded with enough communications gear – laptops, printers, and cell phones – to allow adjusters to settle claims right at the scene of the accident. That’s a big improvement over the scenario that still pervades the industry: Wait a week or two to see the car and make hand written notes, snap photos, drive back to the office, type it all into the mainframe computer, and issue a request for a check.

Ten years ago, the IRV project involved just 10 adjusters in Florida. Today more than 11,000 mobile claims reps share a fleet of 2,600 IRVs. Not only did the program help improve customer retention by 20% last year; it has helped Progressive shave labor costs. Progressive’s mobile adjusters can handle nearly twice the workload they could a decade ago. IRVs have also helped revenues climb from $1.8 billion to more than $9 billion during that period.

A wireless laptop provides around the clock access to Progressive’s mainframe computer. An adjuster can type a claim while sitting in a body shop and go over it with the policy-holder right on the screen. The laptops also let agents use fax machines around the country as printers when a satellite office needs a hard copy