U.S. insurers and dealers now have access to advanced AI tools that detect hidden vehicle damage, already popular in Europe and Israel.
Insurance companies and dealerships in the U.S. now have access to an advanced AI-driven vehicle inspection platform that can detect hidden damage to vehicles – technology already gaining traction in Europe and Israel. For insurers, it offers a powerful tool to reduce fraudulent claims. For dealers, it can streamline appraisals and help secure more used inventory directly from consumers.
Click-Ins, founded in Israel with offices in Europe and Overland Park, KS, takes smartphone photos and, using photogrammetry, 3D modeling, and AI generates highly accurate vehicle damage reports.
Photogrammetry obtains reliable information about physical objects by recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images, then creating 3D models from 2D images.
Insurance Inroads
Click-Ins is currently used mainly by auction houses in the U.S., says Parsons. “We do thousands of inspections per day” for auctions."
It works directly with four insurance companies in Europe and with insurance companies in Israel.
The company is in discussions with several top 10 insurance companies in the U.S. and others through potential partnership integration, Parsons says. Non-disclosure agreements prevent him from naming them.
Insurance companies use Click-Ins in several ways to prevent fraud. Initially, they use it during the underwriting process, before or at the time an insurance policy is issued, to document a vehicle’s condition.
Then, at the time of an accident, known as ‘Notice of First’ loss. Click-Ins sends the driver a link and the driver then photographs the damage and uploads the photos.
The next time an insurance company uses Click-Ins is to estimate the extent of the damage and the repair cost. Lastly, it is used post-repair.
Because most of Click-Ins’ insurance integrations have only gone through in the past six months, determining a monetary value for fraudulent claims prevented is difficult, says Parsons.
Potential Dealer Uses
Dealers could use Click-Ins vehicle inspection technology to document a vehicle’s condition when being leased and when it comes off lease, much the way rental car companies are using it, says Parsons.
They also could use it in the service department to protect themselves from fraudulent damage claims, and to show damage on a car that might not be easily seen. That creates the chance to upsell the customer on a repair.
It could also be used to document a loaner car’s condition before and after it is given to a customer, suggests Parsons.
Click-Ins also can help dealers acquire better used inventory off the street, he says. It partners with AutoAcquire AI, which uses artificial intelligence to help dealers identify households with likely vehicles for sale.
Click-Ins determines the condition of a used vehicle before it is acquired.
More Scalable
To be sure, there are other companies using AI to inspect vehicles for damage. UVeye scans a vehicle for damage as it drives through a tunnel of high-definition cameras.
UVeye and Click-Ins provide similar services, says Parsons, but he sees a clear advantage to using Click-Ins.
“I think ours is a much more scalable solution because everybody has a smartphone in their hand,” he tells WardsAuto. “You can’t send a (dealership-based inspection)tunnel out to somebody's driveway to inspect a car.”
Original post available at: https://www.wardsauto.com/finance-insurance/new-ai-vehicle-inspection-tool-arrives-in-u-s-
