Whether you are an insurance company, a fleet management business, a car rental/leasing business, or a repair provider, vehicle inspections are a very crucial process in your day-to-day activities.
If this is true, you also know that manual vehicle inspections are very challenging, time-consuming, tedious, and a costly affair.
However, thanks to AI, a lot of companies like Inspektlabs are building digital vehicle inspections solutions that automate this process, giving you a lot of advantages over the traditional process. With companies like Inspektlabs that enable AI-powered inspections,
In this blog, we compare seven parameters to understand how AI can help improve the efficiency of vehicle inspections.
Let’s dive in.
1. Cost
Cost is the first factor that we are talking about because reducing costs to increase profitability is the #1 priority for any business.
Conducting a manual inspection is a costly affair. Depending on the circumstances, a single inspection might cost between $50-$200, and the price keeps increasing when you add factors such as specialized inspections, inspector’s travel costs, logistics etc.
However, with AI inspections, you can significantly cut down on the per-inspection cost which in turn will result in more money saved in the longer run. This reduced cost can also benefit customers because they usually are the ones who eventually end up bearing inflated costs due to operational requirements.
2. Customer experience
Vehicle inspections are notorious for providing a bad customer experience due to the inherent shortcomings in the existing framework.
Traditional vehicle inspections require a human to physically visit the vehicle for inspection. This already increases the waiting time for the customer as they also have to account for the inspector’s travel time. Additionally, capturing these reports, filing them, and then analysing these reports all add to the overall increase of time in the vehicle inspection process.
However, when using AI, inspections can be done remotely via a smartphone/fixed cameras, and users get a detailed report capturing every aspect of the inspection within seconds, significantly reducing the time needed to complete an inspection from start to finish.
3. Accuracy
Both humans and AI can accurately detect damage on a vehicle during an inspection. However, both come with their own set of challenges.
For instance, a human can conduct a thorough inspection for both the interior and the exterior of a vehicle. However, the accuracy is highly dependent on the experience and skill of the inspector. Also, humans are in general more likely to report errors due to some misses while capturing information.
In comparison, AI can give you reports with high accuracy right out of the box. However, there are chances of AI going wrong with the reports if the initial data it was trained on wasn’t sufficient enough. Not to forget the fact that AI’s damage detection skills are limited to physical damage that is visible to the eye, and instances of micro damages or internal damages might be completely ignored.
4. Damage types
When a human runs a vehicle inspection, they can spend more time on the vehicle and capture every damage in detail. They also have the ability to detect and report internal damages which can only be identified by driving the vehicle.
However, in comparison, AI is limited to external and interior damage i.e. the kind that is visible. In order to detect internal damage, you’ll need an extra set of sensors and advanced technology that is built specifically for this purpose (which is often a very costly affair).
5. Fraud
The chances of fraud during a manual inspection is quite higher when compared to AI-powered inspections.
In cases of manual inspections, there might be a genuine error from the inspector’s end causing false reports. Or in a lot of cases, the inspector themselves will be incentivized to fabricate damages, compromising the integrity of the inspection process.
However, when you use AI, you can train the model with multiple verification methods to ensure that there is no discrepancy in the data being reported. This will not only reduce errors, but also flag instances where the inspector has attempted fraud while inspecting a vehicle.
6. Speed
The speed and efficiency of vehicle inspections is arguably the biggest pain points in manual inspections.
As we mentioned earlier, manual inspections are usually time-consuming because it often requires an inspector to travel long distances, manually file and analyze reports, and go through a lot of back and forth in case of discrepancies, which increases the overall time taken for an inspection.
However, with an AI model, completing an inspection from start to finish (damage detection, analysis, and report generation) can be done within just a few minutes. The entire process is highly efficient and quick, saving you a lot of time and effort.
7. Coverage
Accessibility can be a huge bottleneck when you have to get a manual inspection done. For example, getting a vehicle inspection done manually in a remote location might be a huge logistical challenge where it will either require an inspector to travel to the location, or you have to send your vehicle to a location where the inspector is available.
Compare this to an AI-powered inspection, which can very easily be done via a smartphone camera, and within minutes. The only mandatory requirement for this whole process would be a decent internet connection to ensure that the app/website is able to connect with the servers for processing data.
AI vs. Human inspections – What works better?
In today’s date, computer vision and artificial intelligence are redefining the way vehicle inspections are done. As time advances, more businesses will adopt AI-driven inspections, making them the norm.
While there are some areas that still have room for improvement, AI will very soon be able to overcome these challenges and become a superior alternative to human inspections.