Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection is beginning to allow customers to file claims electronically by taking photos of receipts with their smartphones.
Berkshire Hathaway will then electronically deposit a payment into a customer's bank or PayPal account instead of mailing a check.
When filing claims, customers do not have to send in original claim receipts.
The new program is called ExactCare, and Berkshire Hathaway is beta testing it with travel agents and other industry partners. It will do a full rollout in the first quarter of 2015.
“Consumers have shared with us hundreds of stories of frustration waiting for other companies to pay claims,” said John Noel, president of Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection. “With ExactCare, we will be able to pay claims within hours or even minutes when others take weeks or even months.”
ExactCare follows the launch of AirCare, which offers low-cost, fixed-benefit flight-protection coverage.
The policy includes trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, missed connections, lost and delayed baggage, 24/7 travel assistance, medical expenses, medical evacuation/repatriation and accidental death and dismemberment.
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection has also introduced a travel agent portal, which gives agents the ability to track their customers and their sales.