A car needs to be inspected for a number of reasons. A vehicle inspection is required by law in kenya. it's also a prerequisite for comprehensive insurance cover. A vehicle might’ve been in an accident, and the carrier needs to assess the damage, or it might’ve almost totaled and the insurer needs to take the call on whether it needs to be salvaged. Vehicle inspection is also required before leasing out cars to expose any hidden damages and establish the actual ‘health’ of the car. Whatever the reason, the vehicle inspection process can turn into a long-drawn out affair if all the parties involved in the process do not have a clear idea of what it entails.
Here are the stages involved in the vehicle inspection process. Also see a comparison between two primary methods of inspecting cars: the manual way and the AI way.
Steps of the Vehicle Inspection Process
A vehicle inspection seeks to clarify if the car is roadworthy. Is it safe for the driver? Does it need repairs and maintenance? In some cases, vehicle inspectors will also consider how environment-friendly the car is, and whether it will cause a ton of emissions on account of internal damage or neglect.
In order to answer these questions, the vehicle inspection process goes through a set of steps.
Verifying identification details
Before taking on the tasks of actually inspecting a vehicle, the inspector needs to verify some details, both of the vehicle and the car owner. The insurance carrier or broker takes down these details when the customer approaches them for inspection. The vehicle details that need to be considered are the make and model, year of manufacture, and the VIN number that’s associated with every car (stamped under the windshield).
Preliminary tasks
Before analyzing the vehicle part by part, an inspector
first completes a couple of initial steps. They include making sure the car
actually starts and the engine runs, and jotting down the odometer reading.
This is well-documented both for later reference and as proof for the car
owner.
Now the inspector can move towards assessing the condition of the parts of a
vehicle.
Physical inspection of the vehicle
Damage to the immediately visible parts of a car is obvious
to the eye. Vehicle inspectors will tackle this first so that it is out of the
way before they can turn to the ‘invisible’ damage. There is no set order for
this, but there are checklists available which ensure a
thorough job was done.
These checklists include mirrors, windshields, tail-lights,
fenders, doors, tires (for tread-depth or grip) and the interior as
well, like the steering wheel, the gear stick, windows, and even under the hood
for leaks or out of place tiny components.
Some inspectors use a binary, broken/not broken checklist
for assessing a vehicle’s damage, while others can use a graded percentage
rating. Inspectors will check for cracks, scratches, dents, fitting issues, and
durability problems.
Throughout the inspection process, vehicle inspectors will
meticulously note down the details. It is highly advised that along with notes
they take pictures from different angles, so there’s visual evidence.
Hidden Damages
Up until this stage, a person can do a thorough vehicle inspection
the manual way. But sometimes, the impact of an accident or say a flood can
cause damage that’s not visible to the human eye. This includes rusting, loose
wires, moisture damage, and car part aging. To expose this damage, the car
would need to be stripped apart! Barring a few extreme cases, an inspector
would obviously like to avoid doing this.
So, should the vehicle inspection process grind to a halt
after the physical inspection? Absolutely not. A, a human inspector can only be
so thorough, and B, their stamp of approval on the damage might not be entirely
accurate.
This is where artificial intelligence steps in. AI, using the power of image recognition and computer vision, can scan for hidden damage that is far too obscure for even the trained vehicle inspector.