New app aims to build business for Volvo's certified collision repair network

Volvo Car USA is launching a mobile app called Accident Advisor that is designed to give Volvo owners, at no charge, step-by-step prompts about what to do when they've had an accident. It also aims to steer customers to the nearest Volvo Certified Collision repair shop.

In the near future, possibly this year, Volvo and CCC Information Services, the Chicago vendor behind the app, also expect CCC to get live access to telematics data from connected Volvo vehicles if sensors indicate a vehicle has been in a crash.

Since the 2015 model year, all Volvos are equipped to notify the automaker's Customer Care Center automatically if an airbag deploys. Adding telematics data from other sensors could be a game-changer for Volvo. Its call center could tailor its response immediately after a crash, based on a more precise idea of its predicted severity.

The additional crash data would also help during the repair process. The new system would reduce the time required to get a repair estimate and determine which replacement parts are needed, the two companies said in separate interviews.

"That's how we see this thing evolve," Scott Doering, vice president of customer service for Volvo Car USA, told Fixed Ops Journal. "We could, at the moment of impact, know how serious it is."

Volvo announced the launch of Accident Advisor last month. CCC says Volvo Car USA is its first automaker customer for the app.

Accident Advisor is designed to walk customers through the entire process after an accident, including how to take photos to be used to assess vehicle damage, how to file an insurance claim — potentially on the spot — and where to go for repairs.

The last of those steps is important for Volvo dealers and their affiliated collision repair centers. Customers could find a body shop on their own, but Accident Advisor refers customers to the nearest Volvo Certified Collision shop. Those shops are nominated by Volvo dealers, who often have a business relationship with them, Doering says. Fewer than 10 percent of Volvo's 287 U.S. dealerships operate their own body shops, estimates Matthew Haiken, chairman of the Volvo Retail Advisory Board.

Certified shops must meet the automaker's requirements for collision technician training and use factory repair parts, Doering says. "We don't mandate that the consumer has to choose our shop," Doering says. "But if we bring that visibility to it, we expect to drive more business to our certified collision centers."

Volvo Car USA launched its certification program about a year ago, Doering says. Since then, more than 200 collision centers around the country have been certified, in markets that serve the vast majority of Volvo vehicles in operation.

Haiken is dealer principal of the Prestige Collection in East Hanover, N.J., which includes two Volvo stores. He says dealers he's talked with like the idea of Accident Advisor.

"As a dealer, we want every single affected vehicle running through the Volvo dealers and the collision network using genuine Volvo parts, which come with a genuine part warranty," Haiken says.

Some dealers have had problems getting their preferred body shop certified by Volvo, Haiken says. For instance, the automaker could consider a body shop too far away. But he says Volvo seems to be willing to negotiate.

"It is something that is still being worked out," Haiken says. "Some dealers are really upset — they have been using this body shop for 30 years."

Doering says all Volvo owners will be eligible for Accident Advisor. Volvo Car USA will communicate its new offer to owners using customer relationship management tools and digital marketing, he adds.

Customers also will be able to sign up for the app by contacting Volvo. More immediately, Volvo plans to offer it to customers who have an airbag deploy or who push the Volvo On Call button in their vehicles.

Initially, even without telematics data from Volvo vehicles, CCC expects the use of Accident Advisor to eliminate some of the time in the repair process that otherwise would be spent getting a reliable damage estimate and then securing parts.

Susanna Gotsch, director and industry analyst for CCC, says the vendor can analyze crash damage photos, based on its knowledge of millions of accidents from working with auto insurers, to produce faster and more accurate repair estimates.

Based on those estimates, Gotsch says, body shops could reliably order replacement parts in advance of even seeing the vehicle. CCC projects that such a step could shave a day off the average 9.9-day repair process from the time a vehicle arrives at the shop to when it is returned to the owner, she adds.

Doering says Accident Advisor is part of a brand strategy by Volvo to eliminate "complications" associated with vehicle ownership. That includes "unplanned events" such as a crash or a call for roadside assistance, he says.

"Those are events in ownership where, if you handle them right, it leads to … retention," Doering says. "But if you handle them wrong, it can be a horrible experience."