Toronto, Ontario — On May 3, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) introduced a new position—Claims Industry Partner Representative—to help improve communication between SGI and the auto repair industry.
Over the past year, repair shop partners have shared concerns with some of SGI’s processes, including not always having the ability to receive timely responses from them.
“You’ve asked for solutions and we listened,” said the public insurer in a release.
The intent of this new position is to provide an additional point of contact to help customers navigate through challenging claims situations and respond to your inquiries when the claims employee on file is unable to provide a solution.
The insurer’s goal is to enhance the communication between SGI and the auto repair industry, creating a more positive experience for you and our mutual customers.
Karen Klein, is the new Claims Industry Partner Representative. Klein comes from the Swift Current Auto Claims office and brings several years of experience from various auto claims roles. Her former experience as a road run adjuster has also made her familiar with appraisal functions.
For the last ten years, she’s been a senior adjuster (Adjuster 3) at Swift Current Claims. Klein will begin her new role on Monday, May 3, 2021.
At first, SGI will be introducing this in phases and starting with a small number of shops to determine what works best for shops and SGI. Then SGI will begin rolling it out gradually to all shops in alphabetical order.
SGI has already in touch with a few shops for the first phase, so there aren’t any changes for shops right now. However, SGI has been receiving and reviewing shops’ concerns, and are working on improving business relations with shops across Saskatchewan. SGI will contact you when it’s ready to phase in your shop.
Shops should continue to seek information or guidance from the current claims employee who is assigned to a particular file. However, the new Claims Industry Partner Representative will be available to you to:
- provide an avenue to resolve your complex questions and inquiries
- obtain claims guidance and resources for your shop operations
- collect and oversee your suggestions on how to improve our working partnership on a larger scale
Klein, the new Claims Industry Partner Representative, will work closely with SGI’s Shop Relations Representatives in the Technical Research Services department to respond to or triage your inquiries to the applicable person.
Their collaboration will ensure industry issues are dispatched and dealt with in a timely and appropriate manner.
“We’re committed to assisting you and building a positive customer experience together,” said the company.
Starting May 1, 2021 SGI will also reimburse all Saskatchewan accredited collision repair partners actual costs (supported by invoice) for the following elements of their estimating software subscription: Mitchell Estimating (UltraMate/Mitchell Cloud Estimating), Mitchell Aftermarket Parts Program (MAPP)/Mitchell Parts, Instant Price Updates (OEM and After-Market Parts) and Mitchell Connect and Estimate Advisor (Compliance).
Additionally, SGI is continuing the OEM Procedure Subscription that was discontinued in December 2020. SGI will compensate repair firms to a maximum of $170/month retroactively back to January 2021 for active OEM procedure subscriptions through Mitchell Tech Advisor, ALLDATA or other providers (subject to approval by SGI).
For more information on these changes, reach out to an SGI representative in your area.
