| Imagine that the company you work for started | | | | them wrecked or damaged. For example, State Farm |
| getting 17 calls per minute from customers with | | | | employees noticed a couple of years ago that the |
| problems, and that the phone rang off the hook 24 | | | | Chevrolet Cobalt, which shared a platform with the |
| hours a day, every day. You'd think something had | | | | Saturn Ion, performed much better than the Ion in |
| gone terribly wrong. | | | | side-impact crashes. State Farm brought the two |
| For State Farm, that's a typical day, as policyholders | | | | vehicles into its facility, took them apart, and |
| call to report claims at the rate of over 17 a minute. | | | | discovered that Chevrolet had added side |
| The nation's largest auto insurer handles about 9 | | | | reinforcements in the Cobalt, increasing passenger |
| million claims a year, from stolen cars to | | | | safety. |
| fender-benders to total losses. | | | | Figuring out how to keep vehicles safer from theft is |
| What's an insurer to do with all those claims? State | | | | also significant work at the State Farm facility. |
| Farm makes good use of them. For one, the claims | | | | "If a professional wants your car, he's going to get |
| data help State Farm set the car insurance premiums | | | | it," says Diggs. "But if we can find ways to make a |
| for other drivers of those vehicles. For example, do | | | | car frustrating to get into for a professional, and less |
| you have a vehicle that's a favorite of thieves? | | | | atractive to thieves and joyriders, that's worthwhile." |
| That's reflected in your insurance bill. But State Farm | | | | Suggesting ways for auto makers to produce cars |
| also uses its wealth of claims data to encourage | | | | with lower repair costs is also a mission. When your |
| better and safer car design. | | | | damaged car goes into the body shop for repairs, |
| Remember when Ford Explorers with Firestone tires | | | | "everything goes by time," says Diggs. "Labor's |
| gained national attention in 2000 because of alarming | | | | where the money is. A vehicle that can be repaired |
| numbers of rollovers? State Farm was the first to | | | | more quickly is a vehicle that's going to be less |
| sound the alarm bell to the National Highway Traffic | | | | expensive to insure. Even if you're an Allstate or |
| Safety Administration in 1998. | | | | Nationwide customer, you get the benefit of that |
| State Farm regularly communicates with auto makers | | | | vehicle." |
| on what it sees as potential vehicle improvements | | | | "State Farm has an interest in seeing cars built to |
| based on trends in customer claims. When the insurer | | | | better standards," says Diggs. "Some manufacturers |
| sees a way a car could be better protected from | | | | listen, some don't." |
| theft, or a bumper that never survives a crash, or a | | | | Case in point: The Mustang |
| car with high passenger injuries, it lets car | | | | When Ford was designing its current-generation |
| manufacturers know. | | | | Mustang in the late '90s, it asked State Farm to look |
| "You try to work together and find a common | | | | at the design and give an opinion. Earlier Mustangs |
| ground," explains State Farm spokesperson Kip Diggs. | | | | didn't sport a great safety record and were high on |
| "Even if they don't acknowledge that the idea came | | | | theft lists. State Farm employees tore down the |
| from you. It's a satisfying gig." And it's a gig that | | | | Mustang and made recommendations to Ford (free |
| stands to benefit all car buyers, not just State Farm | | | | of charge). |
| customers, through safer vehicles and, ultimately, | | | | Shortly after the new 2005 Mustang GT came out, |
| lower car insurance rates. | | | | State Farm got its hand on the first one that had |
| State Farm doesn't charge auto makers for its | | | | been titled and wrecked,. (It had been purchased for |
| recommendations, and doesn't even expect a thanks. | | | | a 16-year-old in Chicago.) State Farm employees |
| But for four men in State Farm's Vehicle Research | | | | wondered if any of their suggestions had made it |
| Facility in Bloomington, Ill., it's their lives' work. | | | | into the design. |
| State Farm not only examines past claims for | | | | "We were pleased to see some suggestions made it |
| problematic vehicles, but it also pulls those vehicles | | | | in," says Diggs, such as the way Ford had affixed |
| into its reseach facility and tears them down, looking | | | | panels and hard pieces to the car that makes it |
| for clues as to why those vehicles incur extra costs. | | | | easier for the vehicle to be repaired. |
| They tear down 25 to 50 vehicles a year, most of | | | | |