UK CASE STUDY - SOFT CONTENTS RESTORATION VS. REPLACEMENT
Jun 6, 2019 by Daryl Nestibo, Director of Customer Success, Esporta Wash Systems Inc.
UK Case Study – Soft Contents
Jan. 2017 – Jan. 2018
Overview
Frustrated by the high levels of contents replacement rather than restoration in their property claims, AVIVA, (https://www.aviva.co.uk/) one of the largest P&C insurance carriers in the UK, found a new and better solution.
Their traditional restoration dry-cleaning partners could not restore significant amounts of the soft contents that existed in a claim. The cleaning results of what they would attempt were often not up to standard. Too much was written off and replaced.
Additionally, a significant amount of time was spent by all parties creating replacement (BER or beyond economic replacement) lists. Those BER list were not always legible and photos were difficult to tie up with their descriptions on lists. A faster and more efficient solution was needed.
Disastercare Platinum is a specialist restoration service, trusted for fire, flood, mold and water losses in the UK and a member of our network utilizing the Esporta Wash System achieving better soft contents restoration results. The opportunity arose to provide contents restoration work for AVIVA to provide evidence of better results and to explore better methods of contents restoration. Not only would the restoration success rate be measured but the real replacement cost savings would also be evaluated.
Below is a summary of the processes and systems used and the results over a one year period.
iS4000 Esporta Wash System
This system combines specially patented hydraulic action, environmentally safe detergents and low wash temperatures. This approach results in significantly higher restoration success rates.
The process effectively can clean sewage, flood water, heavy smoke and soot damage and mould losses with odor removal particularly effective.
The range of items that can be restored is broader in range than traditional methods including:
- Clothing from all areas in the property -attic to cellar and garage.
- Laundry / Bedding/ Towels
- Curtains
- Rugs
- Leathers Goods – including: Coats, Shoes and Handbags
- Soft Toys
- Sporting Goods, Football and Hockey gear, Helmets, and Biking leathers.
- Umbrellas, Outdoor Gear, Tents, Sleeping Bags and Luggage
Scientific tests have continuously shown the Esporta system cleans soft contents to ‘food-grade’ clean. The consistency and standard of clean is unmatched; when demonstrated, customers choose to have their precious items cleaned, rather than replaced.
iCare
Working with the carrier and iCare, a North American technology firm, an application was created enabling real-time capture of images, with voice recognition descriptions and quick links to current replacement values via pre-selected web-based retailers. The result is a costed inventory with supporting images and web links to show real-time pricing. Physical paperwork is removed and all data is shareable with all parties for complete transparency. The results were shared with AVIVA to show the savings and assist them with settling those few items that were non-salvageable.
Impact: Restored £1million ($1,250,000 usd) worth of traditionally replaced soft contents, in the period Jan. 2017—Jan. 2018 with one single facility.
The combination of the Esporta iS4000 wash system and the iCare replacement value system along with Disastercares’ excellent service enabled restoration of nearly £1 million worth ($1,250,000 usd) of traditionally replaced soft contents from Jan. 2017-- Jan. 2018 with one single facility.
The iCare system enables us to log the items, provide links to replacement value websites, calculate the replacement cost and estimate the cleaning cost using the iS4000 to make the right commercial choice for the customer, as well as focusing on items with emotional attachment i.e. children’s soft toys.
Without exception it was found that items were restored at a fraction of the price of replacement as is shown on the below summary chart of the data.
DCP Performance Data one iS4000 facility, Jan. 2017—Jan. 2018
The success rate is 94.5%, with over thirty five thousand items being cleaned. On average Aviva saved over 67% of the replacement value.
The results to date, including the policyholder customers feedback, has been extremely positive. Sentimental items have been particularly well received and insurers have been surprised at the extent of what can be restored, including expensive leather goods.
Delighted with the first year field-trial, UK expansion in the service areas is underway. Five (5) further facilities in the UK in key regional areas are being planned and will be up and running by June 2018. AVIVA and our other insurance clients are encouraged and are taking another look at contents restoration and settlement routes.
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