Property and casualty (P&C) insurer Intact Financial has started offering photo estimating services through an app-based virtual claims system.

The new offering, as reported by Repairer Driven News, is similar to a service already offered by Aviva Canada and is powered by the same technology from Chicago-based Snapsheet. 

Read More: Aviva partners with virtual claims company, brings tech to Canada

“At Intact, we are always looking for new ways to improve the customer experience and making the claims process easier and more efficient for customers,” Intact said in a statement. “As an option for customers, we started offering Snapsheet in the auto claims process in Ontario, Canada, in March. The feedback from customers who have chosen this path has been positive as it saves them time – they no longer need to take their vehicle into a shop for an estimate before booking in for repairs.”

“Turning to strategy, our core tech renewals are now largely built and continue to be implemented across the country,” Charles Brindamour, chief executive officer at Intact Financial, said at the firm’s first quarter earnings call. “With good progress on the infrastructure, we’re now deploying customer experience enhancements at an accelerating rate across lines of business and distribution channels.”

“Earlier this year, customers began to have the ability to use their mobile phones to start a claim right at the site of the accident, loading pictures of the damage to speed up the claims process. Throughout the product lifecycle, options for digital interaction are delivering a faster, simpler experience, while at the same time generating useful data for AI. We expect improvements in customer experience, pricing, and productivity to accelerate as we continue to add to the over 40 AI models currently in production.”