New Tech Helping Transform Vehicle Remarketing

No area of vehicle remarketing or fleet management can escape the rapidly evolving range of technology tools and platforms speeding up how fleet vehicles are operated and moved along the chain of transactions.

Automotive Fleet recently checked in with some technology pulse-takers in the fleet and remarketing sectors who can see how far the industry has progressed, while pointing to areas technology can still improve.

Parking, Cycling, and Remarketing Fleet Vehicles

One area that has changed dramatically because of technology is the service niche of fleet parking, storage, and cycling vehicles through remarketing channels.

Because of the spike in fleet-based delivery services during the pandemic, parking and storage gained a larger presence in logistics, said Michele Pierog, a strategic advisor at Privacy4Cars and chief strategy officer of ParkMyFleet. More vehicles must be prepped, processed, and maintained for a wider array of duty cycles and route runs.

Technology can also assist in overseeing how fleet vehicles are staged, inspected, reconditioned, and secured while being prepared for buyers, Pierog said.

Fleet operations are using data for predictive maintenance and figuring out the best times and places for a fleet vehicle to be fueled, routed, and deployed, she said.

Fleet vehicles also will accumulate enough data for every stage of their lifecycle, which can inform condition reports, performance and usage, wear and tear, and repair intervals.

Fleets are looking for ways to learn how long to keep vehicles and when to sell them, Pierog said.

“We’re using the technology and the data that we collect to help fleets make decisions at the end of that fleet vehicle’s lifecycle or use case.”

Telematics is spurring the gathering of data as more platforms integrate and share APIs enabling fleet management companies to manage and track vehicle inventory. Such closer insights enable fleet operations to monitor vehicles at every minute.

Data can also anticipate future parts and equipment replacements, thereby staying ahead of the supply chain and streamlining maintenance intervals.

Connections to VINs also create more transparency for each vehicle, which is crucial to electric vehicles and their charging rhythms and range capacities. Being able to track EV battery status helps fleets manage electrification.

Tech Can Boost Vehicle Financing, Planning, and Turnover

As data technology can speed up the handling of fleet vehicles, it also plays a larger role in acquiring them.

AI has enabled lenders to fully automate approval processes that find the best interest loan rates based on FICO scores and credit rating, said Aaron Bickart, general manager of OfferLogix, a Herdon, Virginia-based software company that provides vehicle payments related technology.

OfferLogix’s payment technology intersects with new, used and wholesale vehicle markets, dealers, and finance transactions in between.

“Instead of having an individual underwriter looking at the information, AI remembers all the different trade lines and open lines of credit for consumers, and then compares it to others,” he said. The technology can determine rates and the length of loans within seconds while vetting approvals. “It takes the human element out of the approval process.”

That means underwriters are only needed for those loan situations involving questions about a buyer’s credit worthiness or past delinquencies.

Such a micro-focusing on financing applies to fleet vehicle purchases as much as retail, Bickart said. The technology can determine if fleet vehicle purchases qualify for upgraded makes and models based on data.

“It now becomes proactive for banks and lenders to upgrade customers into newer loans,” Bickart said. “They are remarketing to fleet owners in real time with trade-in/resale values,” helping determine the best times to take advantage of incentives for loans, he added.

By combing depreciation, resale, and trade-in values, the program can monitor fleet vehicles to figure out turnover and replacement rates.

“They can pinpoint down to a fleet operator and know how often they buy vehicles,” he said. “It’s AI mining database for the lender. It becomes fully automated. It can notice (for example) that you trade in and upgrade vehicles every three to four years.”

The OfferLogix proprietary technology receives and processes buyer information in real time based on lender financing options, VINs, vehicle makes and models, zip codes, selling prices, MSRPs, and credit scores.

“AI is always mining the database for diamonds,” he said.

One remaining challenge for remarketers is to fully understand and embrace such technological efficiency, Bickart said.

“It’s already here but now the problem is not many know how to use it across all the mediums from approvals to remarketing. You have remarketing companies not integrated with others along the transaction chain.”

Lenders and remarketers need to work together as one instead of independently, he said, thereby avoiding the time-consuming process of filling out and sending forms online.

From a macro view, “remarketing in the fleet world is not an Amazon experience,” Bickart said. “It’s not personalized, unified, and most of the time it’s not relevant. In the auto industry and fleet business, it’s very fragmented. It’s like hiring different companies for different functions.”

Remarketing More Varieties of Commercial Vehicles

Technological advances still hold a lot of potential for vehicle remarketing in the commercial fleet sector.

In the commercial space, auctions still do not spend enough time and attention on thoroughly valuing commercial medium- to heavy-duty vehicles, said Kathryn Schifferle, founder and chief visionary officer for Work Truck Solutions (WTS).

"Auctions could improve how they intake commercial vehicles from fleets and identify what they are, their conditions, and maximum values. They may turn them quickly but that’s different than maximizing the values.

The commercial fleet industry needs to collaborate more on data to see what kind of upfits have what type of value, and how to parse out the value based on condition," Schifferle said. "The supply chain of upfitted vehicles is still opaque and fragmented, which affects all stakeholders due to a lack of accurate knowledge about the vehicles on the market," she added.

WTS has a lot of upfit data since 2007 on millions of upfits because it’s such a unique area, she said.  "However, fleet vehicle insurance, finance, and auction activity are all areas that lack a “good Black Book or KBB,” she said. “What is a dump truck worth? The chassis, materials, brands, equipment?”

PAVE software, an advanced vehicle inspection platform, provides technology for remarketing that can also be applied to manage the conditions of fleets for fleet managers, Schifferle said.

“They use a combination of technology and people that focus on individual commercial vehicles. There aren’t a lot of providers doing that in the commercial space. Some auction operations are working with PAVE or building their own tech to assess conditions and get (vehicles) to online digital faster," Schifferle said.

There is a need to recognize the differences of automobiles, trucks, and upfitted vehicles, and see what is unique about an upfitted vehicle, Schifferle said. “How are you reaching the interested customers for that type of vehicle? Today if you are good at finding those types of vehicles at auctions you will get good deals, and there are a few companies that would make it more democratic by finding an easier way to shop.”

To that end, WTS has launched VAST (Vehicle Acquisition Search Tool) for dealers to shop for only commercial vehicles and find what they want to acquire. “It’s slow going because of a lack of inventory, but now that it’s coming back, there will be more remarketing inventory available.”

VAST now has 1,150 dealers on its platform that use it when needed for commercial customers looking for specific types of fleet vehicle upfits. With two large partners already, WTS is working with several additional auction companies to join the platform, Schifferle said.

“We see a lot of opportunity in making sure commercial vehicles are available in different types of channels coming from medium to large fleets,” she said. The company is also talking with OEMs about adding such inventory to the channel, and finance partners to handle transactions. The platform could potentially display vehicles for buyers who prefer to reserve them when they are off lease or available from repossessions.

"Overall, the vehicle remarketing sector has been somewhat averse to new technologies," Schifferle said. "But the pandemic pushed many remarketers more into the digital online market, helping spur new operations and virtual sales activity."

Schifferle foresees AI emerging as a tool that pushes inefficiencies out of the automotive market chain. “If you want to make money, you consistently need to do a job with refined and efficient processes.”

The vehicle remarketing industry can anticipate more improvements as companies like PAVE use AI and machine learning to speed them up, she said. “AI and machine learning can make the vehicle inspection process not only more consistent, but a lot faster than what a human could do. I’m very bullish on it, but it needs to be about practical things. I’m not worried about it taking jobs from anyone, but instead making people work more efficiently.”

Vehicle Logistics Tech Gets More Precise

In the logistics industry for remarketed vehicles, the past year has brought refined advances that pinpoint, quicken, and add more information into the transaction chain at a faster pace.

At Chicago-based Ship.Cars, the strides in AI, Chat GPT, and machine learning are streamlining transportation services on both the front and backends, said Vlad Kadurin, head of product at Ship.Cars. Kadurin works out of Sofia, Bulgaria, where he leads all software product development and charts strategy for the auto logistics digital platform which ships vehicles for dealerships, auctions, and brokerages.

Underlying all the advances is an expansion in hardware capacity, Kadurin said.

“All the concepts of machine learning are from the 1980s. The only reason it wasn’t a hot topic is because there wasn’t the hardware for these models. The reason we have all these advancements now is that an iPhone is more powerful than a computer room in the 1980s.”

ChatGPT has humanized the interactive chat box function that was based on pre-programmed FAQs, or frequently asked questions. It now sounds like it has emotional intelligence and makes it less likely a visitor will seek out a human.

With Chat GPT, the conversation becomes more human like, Kadurin said. “It allows for context to be extracted, can take and ask a question in a hundred different ways, and will answer the questions. The whole experience can be configured very well. If people can’t tell difference, this makes the confidence in information provided higher.”

Suppliers can set the interactive context by telling Chat GPT how to answer visitor questions, which reduces cancellation rates because it is more responsive in providing information, Kadurin said.

AI is vital to the success of chatbots because it enables them to get very specific with such information as last-mile vehicle tracking with a link, assigned drivers, and ETAs.

“It answers all the specific questions based on access to the database,” he said. “It structures information, including bills and docs, and allows customers to ask additional questions or acquire more information.

“Research shows the second most important thing for an American after their house is their vehicle,” Kadurin said. “They are very worried, especially if it’s expensive. They want to get additional assurance that everything is O.K. Second opinions and special assurance builds confidence.”

Beyond chatbots, technology has speeded up the digital portal, from faster load times to more accurate ETAs based on real-time traffic, routes, weather, and road conditions.

“Advancements in A.I. can use more data points,” he said. That now includes anticipated traffic patterns that can be considered. Some drivers go faster, others take breaks, he said, generating additional data points in the machine model that can make better predictions.

Two other recent AI advancements in logistics technology are in the areas of risk assessment and pricing. Kadurin explained:

1. Risk assessment: One of the biggest risks for a shipper is the carrier. If it’s a carrier who could commit a fraud or have a delay, models can provide a risk assessment for a carrier and see if it can keep its ETAs. Information can use to build confidence models for shippers and carriers. They can see information about the timeliness of payments and the history. “We have the end-to-end process and all this information we can use in order to view confidence models both for the shipper and for the carrier,” Kadurin said. “The carrier also has a lot of risk, especially if it works with a shipper it hasn't worked with before.”
2. Pricing and rates: One of the most essential data points to load for a shipper is real-time accurate pricing. Before, you had to submit information for the vehicle and the shipper calls with a price. Now, all historical pricing information is available, producing instant rates based on geographic destinations tied to real shipping patterns. Carriers can choose the fastest shippers and provide prices based on information. They can see timelines based on shipper data and decide whether to take an order in the time frame they want or can handle.

Technology Accelerates and Exposes More Vehicle Data

The big tech clash roiling the automotive world centers on how to use, access, and deploy the reams of data now streaming from telematics, navigation and GPS tools, onboard electronic devices, and electric vehicles.

“Data is the new oil. We’re starting to have some big oil spills,” said Andrea Amico, the founder of Privacy4Cars. “And people are trying to figure out, should I consider maybe not having that much oil? They haven’t thought about what is needed to make intelligent decisions on how to use and deploy vehicles more efficiently and safer without hoarding the data.”

Studies show 39% of consumers say data privacy is important to vehicle purchasing experience, while 90% of consumers say they don’t trust OEMs with data anymore, Amico said.

Evolving technology that collects more data at a faster pace is in some ways working against privacy, he said. “Cars collect more and more data and companies are trying to figure out how to collect more and more data points and monetize them.” Consumers who are renting and buying cars are caring more about data privacy, he said.

“I think there's a very good set of opportunities for companies in the broader fleet space to rethink what privacy is about and how to turn it into a service or a value add,” Amico said.

Fleets are using more AI tools to build intelligence out of historical traffic patterns and figure out how to improve designs to make vehicles safer with fewer collisions, Amico said. Meanwhile, manufacturers are trying to collect more intelligence for safety purposes.

Another challenge for fleets is figuring out how to use and apply data for routing and deployment, said Michele Pierog, a strategic advisor at Privacy4Cars and chief strategy officer of ParkMyFleet. “Fleets have not figured out how to digest it and use it for the purpose of making the fleet lifecycle more efficient. They are collecting more data than they need now.”

Balancing that gap requires a technological solution, Amico added. “If you can’t get intelligence out of the car, fleets see that as problematic. Companies are asking themselves if data is becoming a liability.”

Complementing efforts to properly apply and protect data is the practice of transparent data reporting that informs fleet users and consumers about the degree of data privacy.

Dealerships, for example, can place stickers and badges on their websites and media verifying their adherence to data privacy standards and signaling to consumers they can see data privacy reports, said Amico, whose company publishes more than 10 million labels per month. That helps build trust.

The decals that can be scanned alert consumers whether a vehicle enables telematics, how it collects data and where it goes, and which apps the vehicle accesses, Amico said. It then states this information is brought to you by the dealership for privacy disclosures.

“Data is a new aspect of cars, so for dealerships, how do they disclose things in a way that’s friendly to consumers and helps them make meaningful decisions while being a better dealer?”

As to the gaps in how vehicle remarketers are handling or applying the latest data technology, there is still a lot of friction, Amico said.

“Cars collect a lot of data, but it’s not made readily available to fleet users. That friction affects the right of repair and how you manage the fleet. There are a lot of walled gardens out there with barriers that don’t want to come down.”

Originally posted on Automotive Fleet