Tool to help fleets meet Official Injury Claim portal deadline

International law firm DAC Beachcroft and insurtech Automated Insurance Solutions (AIS) have launched ACE.

The automated digital solution for gathering evidence and preparing compliant witness statements aims to enable fleet managers to dispute liability in the Official Injury Claim (OIC) portal. 

Under the new claims process, fleet managers have only 30 working days to upload a compliant witness statement to the OIC portal on behalf of their defendant driver, accompanied by a signed Statement of Truth, if they wish to dispute liability for the accident, says DAC Beachcroft.  

If no liability dispute has been raised within the 30 working days, fleet managers cannot after that time defend the claim on the issue of liability

“This short timescale presents a significant challenge to fleet and transport managers, who must ensure that their drivers prepare and sign witness statements in relation to collisions within the 30 working day period, if they are challenging liability for the claim,” explained Peter Allchorne, partner and head of DAC Beachcroft’s Innovations Lab. 

“Obtaining the necessary evidence and a signed Statement of Truth from a defendant driver might previously have taken several weeks, but under the new OIC process fleet managers don’t have the luxury of that time.

“Our new ACE tool provides them with a simple, low cost, automated digital solution to enable them to safeguard against the risk of claims with reasonable prospects of being successfully defended from being compromised,” he said.

A joint collaboration, the tool is powered by insurtech AIS’s Bail platform, while DACB’s specialist motor lawyers developed the question set that defendant drivers must answer so as to compile statements that comply with the new OIC requirements.

“We are constantly looking for ways to introduce further automation and efficiencies that benefit our clients,” said Craig Dickson, CEO of DACB’s Claims Solutions Group. 

“By collaborating with AIS, we have been able to develop yet another innovative solution that makes life easier for our commercial fleet clients.”