Home inspections are a significant underwriting expense for insurance companies in terms of the dollars, time and resources required. To help address this issue, CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer, partnered with Cape Analytics to leverage its advanced AI technology to more quickly and inexpensively assess the condition of member homes.
With a database of more than 70 million residential buildings in the U.S., Cape Analytics provides timely and accurate property information by leveraging geospatial imagery, computer vision, and deep learning. Cape Analytics’ algorithms can identify a range of impactful property attributes and loss-predictive signals. For example, Roof Condition Rating detects issues such as missing shingles, the use of tarps, or discoloration – all of which can be verified with targeted, in-person inspections, if need be.
THE CAPE SOLUTION
For existing business, insurers can utilize this technology to ensure accurate pricing at renewal, identify catastrophe exposures, and reduce their reliance on outdated sources of data. In quoting new business, insurers can improve the customer experience by providing a more objective underwriting decision because they can assess true roof condition in a timely manner.
THE CSAA IMPACT
In the case of CSAA Insurance Group, Cape Analytics’ technology has helped to more accurately quote home insurance policies, resulting in improved underwriting decisions, risk selection, and customer experience.
Insurance carriers have underwritten properties in similar ways, with similar results for a while. Legacy processes for underwriting property insurance typically include ordering an inspection at considerable time and expense, and often creating a negative experience for customers. More sophisticated techniques and data sources are emerging to help solve these problems. Most insurers use the age of a roof as a standard input. However, roof age does not provide an accurate measure of roof performance.
Cape’s Roof Condition Rating allows CSAA Insurance Group to instantly assess the condition of a roof at the time of underwriting, rather than waiting for an individual property inspection. This roof scoring methodology is providing value to CSAA Insurance Group by revealing the true condition of a roof to more accurately evaluate risk, mitigate future losses, and detect potential fraud.
