Almost all claims from a major cargo spill on the M1 Pacific Motorway in NSW have been closed within three months with the help of innovative technology. 

Motorists were directed by haulage business NJ Ashton Group to a specially created Sedgwick online claim form after a truck shed metal scraps, damaging about 1000 vehicles, on May 2.

Sedgwick EGM Kimberley Daley says 99% of the claims are finalised.

“Tech-led solutions really come into their own when they’re applied to mass claim events,” she told the Insurance News Beyond the Buzzwords technology conference last week.

“Automation technology can transform how these events are handled – from drowning in emails and attachments from thousands of claimants to solutions that have structured question sets and responses, and automated claims pathways and calculations.”  

About 750kg of metal shards were spilt north of Sydney across a 30km stretch of the M1, closing it for several hours and causing a Friday traffic standstill. Most vehicle damage was to rims and tyres.

Ms Daley said Sedgwick tech teams worked through the weekend to develop and test a bespoke online question set for roll out on the Monday.  

QBE, the truck’s insurer, could track the progress of claims on a customised dashboard.

“Claimants were able to start submitting their claims and by Monday afternoon ... we could see them popping up on our dashboard and being registered inside our claim system,” Ms Daley said.  

She says claimants were eager to use the technology.  

“We found customers to be overwhelming adopters of technology, from virtual visits to completing M1 claims forms. We went into some projects expecting higher levels of tech avoidance and what actually eventuated in the M1 event was that we had 98% of customers complete their claim form using [Sedgwick claims portal] Smartly.”