Remarketing
removing some of the subjectivity from the process… [and] it’s made [calculating NAMA grades] faster for us.” In addition to remarketing, the gantries have been applied to other motor industry sectors outside the UK, including rental, retail, and tyre fitters.
“We mainly install them in big [rental] branches – airports, train stations,” says Proovstation’s chief sales officer, William Balas, “we usually install at least two units – one at the exits, one at the return [entry]. When the vehicle leaves the site, we take images and store them in the cloud – that’s it. When the vehicle returns, we scan again, and we run the algorithms.
“The main advantages are transparency, because we give the customer access to all the pictures taken during the scan, so they can navigate to them instead of taking their phone and filming the vehicle… the other is that, instead of waiting for someone to inspect the car with you, you just drop off the key.” The tech has been applied similarly at dealers and tyre fitters outside the UK – as a transparency tool for drop- offs and collections – but also as a sales technique to immediately identify additional damage that could be repaired when a vehicle arrives for scheduled maintenance work, which the retailer or tyre fitter can offer as an upsell.
Big remarketing industry players are also dabbling with AI. Anecdotally, we understand BCA is in the throes of extensive trials, while Manheim owner Cox Automotive told us it was testing a variety of products in different markets. Cox’s insight director, Philip Nothard, believes the tech will increasingly become part of remarketing, but thinks it needs to prove its mettle before it is rolled out en masse.
“The question is, does the inspector have to clarify what the AI technology
there something mechanical that will actually add to the problem? I don’t know what the answer is, but… the AI might say, ‘it needs two wheel refurbs and a bonnet polish,’ therefore it goes into that line for [repairs] because there’s no point going to the second appraiser. But if you have an engine knocking, you can’t take a photo of that.”
Nothard thinks AI appraisals have potential earlier in the remarketing process when vehicles are still with fleets. The same tech, made available to
“There’s... subjectivity when a human looks at a car and then another human looks at the same car.”
has identified?” he says, “that’s where the trial process comes in – you’ll have to test how many times your vehicle goes through. Does it pick up more than the inspector would pick up, or does it pick up less? Probably the big debate is about efficiency – instead of appraising 200 cars in a day, you get to appraise 300, because you’ve saved five minutes at the start of each one.”
He also points out the limitations of a purely visual inspection, which does not account for, say, audible factors. “Is
drivers via their phones, could facilitate more consistent inspections and damage reporting before the vehicle is collected. Pave does exactly that. Launched in the UK in 2020, it facilitates what is often referred to as ‘upstream remarketing’ by sending drivers a text message with a link to a webpage, which prompts them to photograph key areas of the vehicle and conduct their own early inspection. They are shown a short descriptive video, then instructed to take 13 snaps, which include the numberplates, the odometer,
and certain areas of the vehicle to determine its condition.
“Self-appraisal… is consistent and anyone can use it,” explains head of UK sales, Phil Deegan, “companies are now saying, ‘actually, if I have that information… I know that that vehicle’s got to go to auction,’ or ‘I can sell that direct from Mrs Miggins’ doorstep, because that’s a grade one car’.” The firm is keen to stress that the service does not operate via an app, because it believes drivers just do not want to download one for what could well be a single use. It says it provides users with real-time feedback to make sure the pictures are up to scratch, and claims the results are 80% accurate. It is aiming to improve that, but reckons they are already more consistent than those generated by humans. Deegan adds that the tech also provides leasing companies with recourse in the face of disputed end- of-contract damage charges.
“Even if the driver doesn’t use it, the leasing company can demonstrate, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it has made every effort and acted reasonably in contacting Mrs Miggins and advising her to do these things. If that person then doesn’t and they say, ‘oh, we’ve had a really bad experience at the back end,’ then the leasing company says, ‘what more do you want me to do?’”
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