{"id":3004,"date":"2026-07-29T12:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.way.com\/business\/insights\/\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T12:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T12:07:07","slug":"ai-in-vehicle-damage-inspection-auto-insurance-claims","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/www.way.com\/business\/insights\/insurance\/ai-in-vehicle-damage-inspection-auto-insurance-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"How AI is helping auto insurance claims with vehicle damage inspection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucy just hit her Prius on the fence. She files\u00a0a first\u00a0notice of loss (FNOL).\u00a0Now your claims team has to go through one of the toughest jobs out there: vehicle damage inspection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s\u00a0wrong with manual inspection?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

For years, the process has\u00a0remained\u00a0unchanged.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A customer files a claim and waits for an adjuster to physically inspect the vehicle. The adjuster walks around the car and notes every scratch, dent, crack, and tear.<\/span> They match the damaged parts to the vehicle\u2019s make, model, year, and trim to price OEM replacements.<\/span>\u00a0Then they estimate the labor hours based on local shop rates, which vary by state.\u00a0All of\u00a0that gets written up and reviewed before a payout is approved.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If your team is looking at five cars a week, this works well. But for a national insurer processing thousands of claims a week,\u00a0the cracks slowly start to\u00a0show:\u00a0scheduling in-person inspections takes days for every claim, estimates differ between adjusters who are looking at the same damage, fraud becomes harder to catch consistently, and your customers who expect fast service are stuck waiting.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How does AI fit into vehicle damage inspection?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0AI\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0here to replace your claims adjusters.\u00a0They just take over the boring and time-consuming parts of the job that are done over and over again.\u00a0This includes detecting scratches, dents, tears, and broken glass.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Detection is honestly only half the work. Then comes turning this detection into a decision. That means every damage is\u00a0determined\u00a0whether it can be repaired or needs a full replacement. If replacement is the right call, then the costs of the parts are calculated based on the vehicle\u2019s exact make, year, model, and trim. Or, if it can be repaired, an estimate is made using the local rates.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since every claim goes through the same detection and pricing process,\u00a0<\/span>the same damage gets assessed the same way regardless of which adjuster picks it up. This makes inconsistent <\/span>estimates easier to flag.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once it\u2019s ready, it goes to the claims processor. They can either make edits or approve it as is, so that your people still make the major decisions. With AI, a claim that could take days can be reduced to a couple of hours.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How Inspection Repair Tech helps\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

We built Inspection Repair Tech<\/a> specifically for insurers that need to bring this kind of speed and consistency to claims.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0entirely web-based, so\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no need to install anything.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s\u00a0what the workflow looks like:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your team sends the customer a simple link\u00a0\u2192<\/strong>The customer taps it, is guided through capturing photos of the damaged vehicle directly in their phone\u2019s\u00a0browser, and\u00a0submits\u00a0them\u00a0\u2192\u00a0<\/strong>Our AI detects and localizes each type of damage, tags it to the specific part of the car, and assesses the severity.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That output feeds directly into the repair\/replace logic and cost estimation, which is ready for a claims processor to review and\u00a0finalize.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Your policyholders aren\u2019t professionals. The photo quality can vary a lot with shaky hands and bad angles. To prevent photos that are unusable, there are some features we\u2019ve incorporated into our software: <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n