Artificial intelligence (AI) is best used to augment human vehicle appraisals in the remarketing sector, according to a panel of experts at the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA)’s March member meeting.
The new partnership between the VRA and CARA, the Car Remarketing Association of Europe, was also announced at the meeting.
Adrian Kelly, director of inspection and logistic services at Cox Automotive, said: “Probably the first thing to realise is that the term ‘appraisal’ covers a whole range of different actions, from a full assessment of a vehicle carried out to an industry standard by an expert, to a two-minute walkaround of a vehicle by a collection driver.
“AI has different potential roles to play, depending on the appraisal taking place. Generally, we see AI as augmenting the human. It’s improving all the time and there may be a time when it can do more but, at this stage, we see its main role as an aid to help people carry out faster, more accurate assessments.”
Simon Jackson, MD at Vehicle Quality Solutions, agreed with this.
He said: “The current capabilities of the technology depend very much on the circumstances.
“Ask AI to assess a freshly valeted vehicle in a well-lit, purpose-built studio environment, and the results will be relatively good. Do the same with a grimy car in an underground car park late at night and the data will be understandably compromised.
“Our view is that the technology will improve and over time, find more of an advanced role. However, at the moment, it’s more a question of using it to ensure accuracy. For example, assessors make very human mistakes such as entering the wrong registration plate, and AI can certainly help in that area.”
Phil Deegan, head of UK sales at PAVE, said there was the possibility of it being used by people without specialist training in some applications such as upstream remarketing.
The use of AI would provide low cost and effective data that allows the leasing company to decide to which remarketing channel the vehicle should be allocated, making savings in areas such as vehicle movements.