LOS ANGELES - Alliance Inspection Management (AIM), a newly formed, national, independent third-party evaluator of new and used (off-lease/fleet) vehicles, has acquired AutoComm. Terms of the deal were not announced.

AutoComm, a new-vehicle inspections provider for more than 18 years, offers a range of services to major auto manufacturers and transportation carriers. Its purchase will strengthen AIM, giving it a national footprint with more than 240 employees at 60 U.S. locations that performed more than 7 million vehicle inspections in 2004. AutoComm also operates 10 offices in Canada.

“The vehicle inspection industry now has a national, independent third-party alternative,” says Jim Yates, president and CEO of AIM. “By acquiring AutoComm, AIM has become a viable option to regional inspection companies, contract inspectors and auction-based inspection companies. We will inspect vehicles, new and used, and provide consistent, well-managed, quality service to our customers and partners.”

Prior to this, Yates was the director of remarketing for Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. He left Nissan Nov. 1, 2005.

Through the acquisition, AIM will enter the used-vehicle inspection industry by combining the new-vehicle inspection company with the management experience and technologies required to become the premier used-vehicle inspection company.