Estimating the cost of work motor vehicle incidents in Australia

To determine the costs of motor vehicle crashes companies have previously relied upon roughly estimated cost multipliers. Establishing the insurance cost of fleet crashes and obtaining more precise cost multipliers will assist fleet policy planning and provide a framework for cost-benefit analysis of safety measures. This project was designed specifically with this aim and was unique in that it co-ordinated a collaborative research process across insurance agencies that typically restrict access to their data. The data represented all vehicle incidents that occurred between 1999 and 2003 where a property damage claim was filed in relation to the researched fleet. During this period, 10,170 property damage claims were filed. Property damage claims were matched with workers compensation and third party claims. It was found that the average total insurance cost of the 43 matched incidents including property damage, workers compensation and third party costs was $28,122. Cost multiplier values that could be applied to property damage costs to estimate total insurance costs were calculated. The cost multiplier range was found to be between 4.1 and 14.5. Therefore, even at the minimal level an incident costs a further 300 percent in excess of property damage costs. The findings from this report provide current Australian benchmarking data that could be useful to government and industry.