SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - May 6, 2014) - Mitchell, a leading provider of technology, connectivity and information solutions to the Property & Casualty (P&C) claims and Collision Repair industries, today announced the availability of its Industry Trends Report (ITR) for the second quarter of 2014. Mitchell combines its own data with guest contributions from Enterprise Rent-A-Car and J.D. Power & Associates, to offer industry data points and analyses, along with expert market insight, to P&C insurers, bill reviewers, payers and auto body repair shops.
The Industry Trends Report (ITR) is delivered in two editions to address timely concerns for the auto physical damage and casualty industries.
The Auto Physical Damage edition
Using Mitchell's repairable collision severity data in conjunction with information from the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), Greg Horn, Vice President of Industry Relations at Mitchell, analyzes the impact a brutal winter can have on collision frequency and severity. "By looking at the national frequency numbers over the last three winters, we concluded that in general, winter storms are leading to higher repairable costs and more total losses than they had in the recent past," said Horn. "As an insurer or collision repairer, it's imperative to prepare for these trends next winter, especially in the fourth quarter when your ability to handle workloads is already stressed by the holidays and staff vacations."
Enterprise Rent-A-Car contributes to the ITR with its own article including factors impacting the 'length of rental' from the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014 in both the U.S. and Canada. Factors analyzed include weather, economy, repair shop conditions and processes and parts availability. In the U.S., the Northeast led the country with the highest length of rental at 13 days with winter storms severely impacting mild winter states, while Canada's rental length remained high but consistent as the majority of the country dealt with severe ice and snow during the winter season.
Readers will also find data concerning the most common and costly car repairs over the past five years, ranging from catalytic converters to front and rear bumpers. J.D. Power & Associates supplements these facts with actual cash value trends of used cars.
Mitchell also offers a webinar, Industry Trends Live, on the Auto Physical Damage edition of the report. Greg Horn will provide a deeper look into the trends, information and studies highlighted in this quarter's ITR on Wednesday, May 7. To sign up for webinar, visit http://go.mitchell.com/register.
The Casualty edition
The latest casualty edition focuses heavily on the use of technology and analytics. "Analytics: Present and Future Applications," written by Ed Olsen, senior business process consultant at Mitchell, focuses on the use of analytics to streamline claims processes for P&C professionals by developing benchmarks, establishing plans of action, detecting fraud and optimizing workflows. "If done right, analytics greatly improves customer satisfaction by allowing prompt resolution of legitimate claims while improving claim outcomes by assigning the best resource to handle a claim," said Olsen. "That's revolutionary for our industry."
Addressing a cutting edge topic in the world of analytics, the ITR and the accompanying Technology Impact article highlights the ways predictive analytics technology can be used to enhance the decision-making process within an organization.
In line with previous Mitchell trend reports, this Q2 Edition includes an updated Medical Price Index, along with recent state regulatory changes. According to the data, both evaluation and management and major radiology services showed double-digit price growth over the past year.
First published in April 2001, Mitchell's ITR now reaches more than 33,000 collision and casualty industry professionals and provides meaningful visibility into data-driven trends in the P&C market. The complete report is available at www.mitchell.com/industry-trends-report.
For further collision repair and property casualty industry updates and perspectives, follow Mitchell on Twitter @MitchellClaims and @MitchellRepair.
About Mitchell International
Mitchell International, Inc. is uniquely positioned to simplify, enhance and accelerate claims handling processes across the P&C industry through deep workflow solutions that include unparalleled access to data, advanced analytics and decision support tools. Our expert workflow and adjusting solutions advance the claims management process by enabling automotive physical damage, bodily injury and workers' compensation clients to process claims more accurately, consistently, and cost-effectively.
Mitchell's solutions provide an expert level of decision support and connectivity within the claims organization and with industry partners to achieve optimal outcomes. Mitchell's comprehensive solution portfolio and robust SaaS infrastructure enables tens of millions of electronic transactions to be processed each month for over 300 insurance companies, including the majority of the top 25 insurance carriers, and over 30,000 collision repair facilities. With an expanding global footprint, Mitchell products are currently utilized in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Mitchell is headquartered in San Diego, California, and has approximately 2,000 employees. For more information, please visit www.mitchell.com.