Their motor sample caught three files where the garage estimate had drifted far past the photos. We adjusted two reserves before month-end and kept one open for a second assessor. The briefing ran long, which was useful even if it delayed our afternoon stand-up.
Client stories
Voices from claims managers, reserving leads, and SIU partners who commissioned Brookbase engagements. Names and roles are shown with permission; carrier identities stay private.
The reserve schedule was plain enough for finance and detailed enough for actuarial. I still wanted more colour on large fire losses, but the reason codes made the committee vote faster than our previous consultant’s thirty-page essay.
We had suspected a contractor cluster after the last rainy season. Brookbase’s exhibits showed the pattern without overstating it, which let SIU open a quiet review instead of a dramatic purge.
Audit week felt ordinary for once. Packs were indexed, interview notes were short, and nobody scrambled for emails at 7 a.m. They stayed in the reading room and left our production queue alone.
Extended note: motor reserve cleanup before year-end
A regional motor book asked us to sample eighty open files in the fortnight before year-end close. Garage estimates had outpaced photo evidence on a cluster of rear-end losses, and the reserving committee wanted an independent schedule rather than another internal debate.
We worked from scanned PDFs in a secure share, with two senior reviewers and one associate. The reserve recommendation schedule listed fourteen files with downward commentary, nine with upward commentary pending further medical or repair evidence, and the rest as adequately reserved on current documents. Two fraud-indicator flags went to SIU for quiet follow-up.
The client booked most downward recommendations before close. Upward files stayed open with documented reasons—useful when auditors later asked why certain cases had moved. The mild friction: our briefing ran longer than the allotted hour because managers wanted to walk file-by-file; we now schedule a ninety-minute close for similar samples.