The Value of Real-time Video in Automotive Industry

There are several reasons to adopt a technology in any industry. Technology either provides the benefits of generating revenue, delivers higher levels of efficiency by reducing costs, or it helps minimize the risks. In rare scenarios, a single technology can deliver all three of these benefits. Real-time visual technology is one of such examples.

Automotive Industry is highly complex. There are many different aspects – manufacturing, logistics, service and repair, driving and operating, insurance, etc. Yet, within each and every one of these areas there are opportunities to take advantage of real-time visual technology to increase the value. Let’s look at some examples.

Generating Revenue

Imagine a franchise that operates a vehicle collision repair facility. When the customer needs a collision repair, typically the customer will make an appointment to get the estimate or simply drive on over to the nearest location.

The typical rule of thumb customers use is to acquire three estimates prior to selecting the right shop for the job. This means that the customer will need to take at least three trips to pick out the right facility to take on the job. But, what if the vehicle is not drivable, what if the customer did not have to drive?

Insurance industry has been applying pictures to estimate and settle auto claims directly from the policyholders. Why can’t collision repair facility take advantage of the same technology? Instead of pictures, however, the collision facility can utilize real-time visual communication to instruct the customer to demonstrate every detail of existing damage for high level of accuracy to estimate the effort. In addition, customer service statistics have shown that customers are willing to pay more for convenience and do look for key differentiators among their alternatives.

Roll up this technology into the corporate franchise customer service operation call center, and now you have a very powerful way to provide standard estimates across all franchises, securing them new business.

Reducing Costs

Automotive Industry is vast and has a very large set of vehicle types, equipment, and tools that often need a very explicit knowledge for timely service and repair. However, there always seems to be a shortage of highly skilled and knowledgeable resources that can help offer the right guidance at the right time.

With real-time visual technology, however, it is easy to provide a high level of service and support when it matters most. For equipment, the equipment manufacturers customer service teams can apply the real-time visual in order to see what the mechanic sees to offer instant recommendations. Vehicle manufacturers can take advantage of this technology to provide recommendations specific to the make and model of the vehicle. Likewise, senior mechanics located in different remote facilities can be tapped for their expertise.

In addition, remote visual technology can help resolve supplemental claims even faster. Instead of calling an insurance adjuster to schedule an appointment to handle a supplemental claim of the insured vehicle, the mechanic can contact the adjuster and provide a real-time visual of what he is seeing directly to the adjuster. This not only benefits the body shop by expediting vehicle repair, but also saves the insurance carrier the time and money in adjuster visits and extended rental reimbursements.

Mitigating Risks

There is an increasing public sensitivity to vehicle defects. With the social media sharing recall news faster than ever before, it is a lot more important for vehicle mechanics and manufacturers to catch any potential issues as soon as possible.

Real-time visual technology can help collect critical vehicle defects from drivers and customers as soon as the issue occurs. Recalls such as steering column locks, or floormats compromising pedals, and even interior electronic controls can be caught sooner if there are means to share the visual of the issue directly with the customer care teams.

Another scenario for mitigating risks occurs within commercial fleet operations. While extra care is always taken to ensure the highest level of safety during vehicle operation, not all accidents can be prevented. Commercial vehicles are often susceptible for being blamed to cause the accidents and not enough steps are taken to protect themselves by accurately and timely documenting the accident.

Real-time visual technology can help document the full extent of the damage and capture the scene of the accident during a conversation with dispatch directly from the scene, providing an extra level of liability protection for the fleet organization as well as helping quickly plans the next steps to recover the vehicle and the load.