Saudi Arabia rebuilds motor insurance claims through AI on Solera and Najm platform
Motor insurance claims processes in Saudi Arabia are shifting from automating separate steps toward uniting insurers, repair centers and customers within a single digital system. This shift is advancing alongside the partnership between Najm — the national platform that manages and assesses insured vehicle accidents — and Solera, which is working to integrate AI-powered damage assessment technologies into this nationwide platform.
Solera's Regional General Manager for the Middle East and Turkey, Brod Stanovsky, told Asharq Al-Awsat that AI's most measurable impact is seen in the speed and accuracy of vehicle damage assessment. According to Stanovsky, image-based detection can turn damage photos into a detailed estimate in under two minutes, cutting the conventional assessment time roughly in half. Stanovsky also noted that this accuracy reduces not only processing time but also overlooked parts and the need for reassessment or additional costs.
Stanovsky stressed that there is a difference between digitizing a single step and achieving a genuine transformation across the entire claims process. Adding image recognition to the assessment stage does not mean the whole process becomes fully connected, as long as notification, triage, assessment, repair and compensation stages continue to run on separate systems. In his view, real transformation begins when vehicle, damage and cost data flow without being re-entered or reinterpreted at every stage, with all parties relying on a shared data layer. He said the practical test is whether the traditional disputes between insurers and repair centers still persist.
Stanovsky noted that Najm's existence as a national platform since 2007 provides a different foundation compared to other markets where claims data is scattered across dozens of separate company systems. He said this structure allows AI tools to be deployed at market level rather than separately within each company. Stanovsky reported that in some individual cases, opting for a data-driven repair decision instead of a straight replacement reduced total claim costs by more than 17 percent and shortened processing time by more than two days.
According to Stanovsky, AI has become reliable for repetitive, clear-cut tasks such as identifying damaged parts from photos, generating detailed estimates, recommending repair methods for standard accidents, and distinguishing between repairable cases and total losses. However, he said human review must remain mandatory in cases involving wide room for interpretation or high financial and legal implications — such as borderline total-loss cases, structural or safety-related damage, liability and injuries. In Stanovsky's words: "AI should directly shorten 80 percent of assessments, so experts can focus on the 20 percent that truly requires human judgment."
Where this decision comes from
The Najm platform has been managing and assessing insured vehicle accidents in Saudi Arabia since 2007. According to the report, this offers a different structure compared to other markets where claims data is scattered across numerous company systems, allowing AI tools to be deployed through a single platform at market level rather than separately by each company.
Impact on the sector
According to the report, for insurers the impact is reflected in faster damage assessment and reduced reassessment or additional costs caused by detection errors. For repair centers, a shared data layer could mean fewer traditional disputes with insurers — though whether this actually happens is described as the practical test. For policyholders, shorter automated assessment times could result in faster compensation processes.
It is noted that usage-based insurance models in Saudi Arabia rely on data such as speed, braking, turning and traffic rule compliance, which is said to have the potential to link pricing, risk assessment and claims processes into a single data flow. However, the report does not include a concrete timeline for when or at what scale this potential will be put into practice.
The angle left out
"Stanovsky says that unexplained automated decisions could create a new type of dispute: if a customer or repair center cannot understand the basis of an automated decision on total loss or repair method, they may reject that decision. However, the report does not specify through which technical or administrative mechanism the Najm platform ensures this explainability, how many days the appeal process takes to resolve, or in how many cases it is referred to human review. It also does not specify how many cases the 17 percent cost reduction and two-day time saving cover, or whether these figures represent a statistical sample or selected individual examples."
