New firm automates collision repair claims process

Goal is to reduce costs and time For more than eight months, a fledging Redwood Shores, CA company was in stealth mode while its team of programmers and designers developed solutions to automate the marketplace processes in the automotive collision repair industry under the code name EngineRoar.com.

That was then. Today, the new company, Ensera, Inc. (www.ensera.com), claims it is first-to-market with such a process. Ensera looks to be the leading provider of automating repair claims, says founder and CEO Anthony Aquila.

He says the system is quickly finding favor with insurance carriers, repair facilities, and parts and materials suppliers across the country.

Ensera says it is revolutionizing the automotive repair claims processes by allowing all the commercial participants involved (insurance carriers, repair facilities, parts and materials suppliers, as well as the carriers' consumers) to transact, exchange, and share information via the Internet.

With approximately $120 billion in premiums generated per year in the private passenger automobile insurance industry, Ensera is initially targeting the $28 billion automotive collision repair marketplace with a process to reduce repair claims' costs and cycle times.

"That ultimately will translate to higher customer satisfaction and increased insurance policy renewals," says Mr. Aquila, whose executive management team spans more than five decades of direct automotive claims and repair industry experience.

He says, "In addition to the first-of-its-kind ION Claims payment escrow management system, we plan to roll out additional proprietary components of our automated processing system and expect to announce agreements with at least four major insurance carriers to begin utilizing the Ensera system in the coming weeks."

"Given the enormous size of the automotive collision repair industry, the upside is phenomenal," says Wand Partners' Vice President Eric Jeck. "By creating applications that are accessible to every insurance carrier, repair facility, supplier and carrier's consumer, Ensera facilitates the realization of broad-based efficiencies and higher service levels among these participants via improved communications and personalized, real-time experiences."

The deployment phase of Ensera's Internet-enabled business process automation applications signals a shift in the collision claims and repair process, says Mr. Aquila.

He explains, "The transition from legacy systems and costly manual processes is being replaced by a streamlined, data-driven automation process where cost savings and excellent service levels are paramount."