LONG BEACH, CA - Alliance Inspection Management (AiM) recently passed an important milestone when the company conducted its 35 millionth vehicle inspection. AiM provides detailed vehicle condition reports for auto manufacturers, dealers, captive finance companies, auction houses, transportation companies and consumers.
Each new or used vehicle inspected by AiM goes through a thorough, bumper-to-bumper evaluation before being delivered to a car dealership through the supply chain via ship, train or a vehicle hauler, and for consumers and dealers in the final stages of the sales transaction.
AiM’s 35 million inspections were conducted during the past six years, when the seasonally adjusted annual rate for new vehicle sales fell to 10.6 million new cars sold in 2009 and the used car market increased to over 35 million used vehicle transactions that year.
AiM, which lists Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, Nissan and Avis Budget Group among its clients, verifies the condition of new and used, off-lease and fleet vehicles at assembly plants, rail yards, ports, auction sites and dealerships across the country. In 2010, AiM began to provide consumers with vehicle inspections.
AiM employs a network of 500 full-time inspectors, who provide independent, third-party condition reports on vehicles new and used, inspecting body panels, interiors, tires and more. For every vehicle inspected, AiM provides a comprehensive, electronic condition report, a “virtual vehicle” with information and photos that allows potential buyers to review and analyze a car prior to purchase.
AiM’s online condition reports have helped fuel the growth of electronic sales in vehicle remarketing, which has grown to the point where online auction sales now account for approximately one in every five units sold, according to Manheim. In 2005, when AiM began operations, Internet sales accounted for just 4.5% (1 in 22 units) of vehicle remarketing sales, according to the National Automotive Auction Association.
“It’s important to understand what dealers want and need from an online purchase,” said Jim Yates, CEO of AiM. “Dealers want a concise description of a vehicle that accurately reflects any damage it may have, and our condition reports provide that in words and pictures.”
AiM’s vehicle condition reports allow buyers to make quicker decisions via online marketplaces, and aid sellers by providing transparency to the condition of the vehicle, reducing transportation costs and helping companies make better decisions farther upstream when deciding when and where to remarket their inventory.
“AiM’s online condition reports help us sell vehicles in a more efficient manner,” said Greg Thibault, vice president of fleet disposal for Avis Budget Group, an AiM client which remarkets thousands of vehicles annually. “AiM’s team of quality inspectors is professional and thorough. We are very confident with their capabilities.”
Inspections also save the auto industry money by reporting damage to new vehicles that occurs between the factory and the showroom. In-transit losses and damages to new vehicles have dropped by more than half – from $38 million to $15 million – since 2005.
“Inspections are a major part of reducing in-transit damage, and reducing expenses that would be passed on to dealers, and ultimately to the consumer,” said Yates.
