Insurance teams, body shops, rental operators and fleets are all feeling the squeeze: rising labour costs, growing workloads, and customers who expect decisions in minutes not days. Traditional, manual inspections struggle to keep pace, and inconsistencies fuel rework, disputes and leakage. Automated Vehicle Inspection (AVI) changes the equation by turning images and video into reliable assessments at scale, accelerating every step from claims to maintenance while keeping costs under control. In this article, we dive into how Automated Vehicle Inspection (AVI) is transforming insurance claims and fleet operations by accelerating assessments, reducing operational friction, and delivering measurable cost savings at scale.

What is automated vehicle inspection?

Automated vehicle inspection uses computer vision to detect, classify and size damage from images or video, then turns those findings into structured reports and estimates. A typical workflow includes: image capture (smartphone, fixed cameras or drive-through portals), AI damage detection, severity scoring, parts/labour look-ups, and a generated estimate ready for approval or triage. Deployed well, AVI standardises assessment quality and removes bottlenecks across claims, remarketing and fleet return processes.

How automated vehicle inspection reduces costs

Cost leaks tend to hide in slow hand-offs, inconsistent assessments, and avoidable downtime. By digitising inspections and automating damage appraisal, AVI compresses cycle times, standardises decision-making, and focuses spend where it’s genuinely needed. In practice, that translates into the efficiencies below:

• Faster cycle times: Automation compresses assessment from days to minutes, cutting touch time and overhead across claims and turn-in pipelines.
• Less labour dependency: AI-assisted assessment reduces reliance on scarce specialist labour, freeing experts for complex cases.
• Fewer disputes: Consistent, audit-ready outputs (damage annotations, timestamps, before/after imagery) settle claims faster and reduce leakage.
• Parts and pricing accuracy: Linking detections to parts catalogues and standard labour codes limits estimate drift and speeds approvals.
• Reduced fleet downtime: Instant triage and guided repairs bring assets back on the road sooner improving utilisation and shrinking the spare-vehicle buffer.

From Insurance Claims to Fleet Management

Whether you’re settling claims or turning vehicles around in a depot, the same capabilities deliver value: fast, consistent assessments with clear evidence and seamless hand-offs. Here’s how AVI improves outcomes across both insurance workflows and day-to-day fleet operations:

Insurance claims

AVI brings speed and consistency to the entire claims journey:

• FNOL to settlement in hours, not days: Policyholders upload guided photos; AI returns a preliminary assessment instantly for adjuster review.
• Fair, defensible estimates: Damage is localised and scored with clear evidence, helping carriers and repairers agree quickly.
• Lower fraud and leakage: Timestamped image trails, VIN/plate checks and anomaly cues reduce opportunistic claims and supplements.
• Better customer experience: Faster decisions, fewer re-inspections, and transparent communications raise satisfaction and retention.

Fleet management

For owned and operated fleets, rental, leasing, last-mile or corporate, AVI reduces total cost of ownership:

• Rapid turnarounds at return/hand-over: Drive-through or bay scans capture condition in seconds, auto-flagging billable damage and consumables.
• Planned, not reactive, maintenance: Recurring micro-inspections surface minor issues early (tyres, lights, glass), preventing costlier failures.
• Higher utilisation, lower downtime: Automated triage books the right workshop at the right time; vehicles come back to service faster.
• Consistent, fair charges: Evidence-based reports reduce disputes at end-of-lease/short-term returns and protect residual values.

MakeWise spotlight: AVI.VISION

AVI.VISION is MakeWise’s automated vehicle inspection platform, built to deliver fast, consistent assessments across claims, rental/lease returns, auctions and fleet depots.

• High-accuracy damage detection (scratches, dents, cracks, broken lights, glass) from images or video.
• Automatic repair-cost estimates tied to detected locations and severity, ready for approval or booking.
• Flexible workflows: real-time (drive-through) or from photo sets, with optional human QA for edge cases.
• Seamless integrations with claims, DMS and fleet systems so decisions trigger bookings, parts orders or customer comms immediately.
• Edge + cloud options to match site connectivity and latency needs, keeping sensitive imagery local when required.

Where it pays off

• Insurance claims: faster FNOL to settlement, fewer supplements.
• Rentals/leases: fair, consistent damage charges at return; shorter stand-down time.
• Fleets: quick turnarounds, better utilisation, proactive maintenance scheduling.
• Remarketing: cleaner condition reports that support pricing and time-to-sale.

Automated vehicle inspection delivers what operations need most: speed, consistency and transparency. By reducing manual touch, improving estimate accuracy and cutting downtime, AVI trims costs from insurance claims to fleet management while raising customer confidence in the process. With AVI.VISION, MakeWise brings those benefits to your network at scale so you resolve faster, spend less, and keep vehicles earning.

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