Motorists with minor accident damage may no longer need to wait days for compensation after Britam General Insurance rolled out a new artificial intelligence-powered claims service that promises payment within two hours.
The insurer has launched the Britam AI Motor Assessment Service at the Britam Centre, introducing what it describes as a fast-track solution for comprehensive motor policyholders. The drive-through facility handles vehicles with minor and drivable damage, cutting down the usual back-and-forth paperwork that often slows claims.
At the facility, a customer drives in, and the vehicle is photographed from different angles. The images are analysed by an AI system that assesses the extent of damage in about 15 minutes. A digital claim form is then sent straight to the customer’s phone for completion, removing the need for physical documents.
Once the form is submitted, the claim is reviewed internally within 30 minutes. Payment is then processed within the next hour through bank transfer, M-Pesa or by issuing a repair authority to one of Britam’s approved garages. From arrival to settlement, the company says the process should not take more than two hours.
Britam Group Chief Executive Officer James Mbithi said the new service is part of a wider effort to modernise insurance in Kenya.
“This is about transforming how insurance works for our customers. We want to remove the long waiting periods and paperwork that people associate with claims,” Mbithi said during the launch. “Our goal is to make motor claims simple, fast and transparent.”
He added that the company is working towards enabling assessments at the accident scene in future.
“We are exploring the possibility of allowing customers to initiate and complete assessments right where the accident happens. That is the direction we are heading,” he said.
The move comes at a time when claims management remains a sensitive issue in the industry. Data from the Insurance Regulatory Authority shows insurers rejected 22,364 claims worth Sh658.9 million in the first quarter of 2025. Some of the rejected cases were linked to suspected fraud, non-disclosure and incomplete documentation.
Britam says its AI platform is designed to deal with such challenges. The system verifies images, detects inconsistencies, measures damage severity and generates repair cost estimates in real time. This, the company says, reduces the risk of exaggerated claims while speeding up genuine ones.
Kenya’s insurance sector has been under pressure to improve customer experience and increase penetration, which remains below 3 per cent of GDP according to industry reports. Long settlement periods and disputes over rejected claims have often discouraged motorists from taking up or renewing policies.
For now, the AI service is only available to comprehensive motor policyholders whose vehicles have suffered minor damage and can be driven to the assessment centre. Britam says the rollout is part of a broader strategy to digitise claims processing, cut fraud and improve efficiency across its operations.
If successful, the model could set a new benchmark for how motor insurance claims are handled in Kenya.
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