Britam General Insurance has launched a new drive‑through service that uses AI to assess car damage and pay motor insurance claims in just two hours. This is a significant improvement over the usual five‑day waiting period many Kenyan motorists are used to.
The new facility, Britam AI Motor Assessment Service, is located at Britam Centre in Nairobi and was developed by BetaLab, the company’s innovation team.
It is meant for customers with comprehensive motor insurance whose cars have small, drivable damage. When a customer arrives, Britam staff take photos of the vehicle, and the AI system analyses the damage in about 15 minutes.
After that, a digital claim form is sent straight to the customer’s phone. This removes the old process of filling out paperwork, scanning documents, and sending physical forms to the insurer.
Once the form is filled out and submitted, Britam reviews it within 30 minutes. After approval, the insurer either sends the payout directly via bank transfer or M‑Pesa or issues a repair authorisation to one of Britam’s partner garages.
Overall, the entire process from arriving at the centre to receiving payment or repair approval is designed to take two hours.
Faster Claims Through AI Efficiency
James Mbithi, the CEO of Britam General Insurance, said the new system represents a major change in how the company handles motor insurance claims. He explained that customers no longer need to wait several days to receive their compensation.
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“Today, five working days is not good enough for our customers. We have launched a capability that uses AI to assess accident vehicles and pays the customer within two hours. In the future, we will be looking at how to scale this up so that a customer can do it at the scene of the accident, wherever they are.”
CEO Mbithi added that the AI system can detect and analyse damage more accurately than the human eye. He said the technology provides clearer, data‑based results, helping reduce disagreements between the company and customers about the extent of damage or repair costs.
Using AI to Reduce Insurance Fraud
Fraud has historically been a drain on the motor insurance segment. According to data from theInsurance Regulatory Authority
(IRA), Insurance firms turned down 22,364 compensation claims worth KSh 658.9 million in the first quarter of 2025 alone, including some involving suspected fraud and improper documentation.
Britam says its platform addresses this vulnerability through three integrated AI models:
- A vehicle object detection model that validates image authenticity and identifies the correct side of the vehicle being photographed.
- A damage detection model that uses computer vision to classify damage type, severity, and affected components.
- A price discovery engine that aggregates real‑time data from parts suppliers and repairers to generate localized cost estimates.
Together, these models reduce the scope for manipulated photographs, inflated repair quotes, and inconsistent assessments, the three most common vectors for motor claims fraud in Kenya.
Also Read: Britam Insurance Company: History, Branches, Premiums, and Packages Offered
Part of Britam Wider Tech Transformation
The digitization of claims processing is a part of Britam’s long‑term technology strategy. Britam has already been using a structured, data‑driven system for more than five years to track the prices of spare parts and guide assessors when estimating repair costs.
This existing system has served as the foundation for the new AI technology, which now automates and improves much of the assessment work previously done manually.
Britam says the AI‑powered service is only available for cars that can still be driven and have suffered minor damage. It is also limited to customers who hold comprehensive motor insurance policies.
As technology continues to develop, there may be opportunities to expand the service to cover more types of claims in the future, but at the moment, the priority is ensuring the system works efficiently for eligible vehicles and customers.
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