USE of technology is making it easier for fleets to enforce “golden hour” guidance following any kind of road collision, FleetCheck is reporting.
Peter Golding, managing director at the fleet software specialist, said that if details about an incident can be quickly recorded and submitted to your insurer and accident management company then large amounts can be saved in claims costs.
He said: “The first concern following a road collision for fleets is to ensure that the driver and other road users are not badly injured. Once that is established, there should be a concerted effort to gather as much relevant information as rapidly as possible.
“The golden hour is a long-recognised concept in insurance. There are whole industries that exist to try and make money out of claims following collisions – with costs for replacement vehicles and injury claims being among the most onerous. However, these can be avoided by moving within the first 60 minutes or so.
“Historically, it’s been difficult for fleets to enforce any kind of guidance for employees in this situation. Drivers may not know what information to record or where to send it. However, that is now changing quickly.
“We’ve added collision recording facilities to our standard FleetCheck app and this walks the driver through the process and allows them to send it immediately to their fleet manager. Some other companies have created products following a similar concept. It is no exaggeration to say that these are revolutionising the process.”
Golding added that uncontrolled costs following the golden hour could easily run into thousands of pounds. “If you ask industry experts, there are all kinds of estimates about how much accident costs increase if you aren’t able to get on top of the situation but the very lowest are still well into four figures and some are much, much higher.
“These additional expenses add nothing to the process of dealing with the aftermath of the collision and exist only to artificially inflate the value of the claim. If fleets can successfully take control in this area, then very substantial savings can be made.”
