Several firms are vying to make car inspections more affordable, quicker, and simpler. San Diego-based firm Self Inspection believes it has outperformed them all with its AI-powered service, and it has now won over outside investors.
Founded in 2021, Self Inspection is scheduled to reveal on Thursday that it has raised $3 million in a seed round led by DVx Ventures, the company that was previously run by former Tesla president Jon McNeill, and Costanoa Ventures. Westlake Financial, which manages over a million car transactions a year, joined the round.
Karim Bousta, partner at DVx Ventures, believes the traditional vehicle inspection process is ripe for innovation. Self Inspection’s technology “not only streamlines operations for auto lenders, dealerships and rental companies, but also sets a new benchmark for quality, reliability and a seamless digital experience in the $30 billion vehicle inspection market,” Bousta said in a statement.
Regarding the money, Yaremtso stated, “Basically, we’re going to start expanding, growing, and scaling.”
Unlike UVEye, which just secured $191 million for its AI-powered drive-through inspection technology, Self Inspection has chosen a very different course.
Self Inspection’s software can use data taken from an automobile’s OBD2 port, yet it simply requires a smartphone camera.
The company trained its AI models on what it describes as “one of the largest datasets of damaged vehicles.” Those models can quickly detect damage and assess the severity, before generating a cost estimate and “one of the most thorough vehicle inspection reports available in the industry.”
Yaremtso stated
“What we deliver is actually a fully detailed PDF report that you would normally only get from a body shop, which will tell you what labor needs to be done on the damage, how much it costs to repair, how many parts do you need, and so on,”.
According to Yaremtso, Self Inspection’s service is different from rivals like Ravin since it is straightforward but customizable.
To put it another way, Self Inspection’s software isn’t universal.
Customers will have access to a sophisticated back-end configurator as a result. For example, a fleet or vehicle marketplace can drag and drop things in Self Inspection’s software to prioritize specific high-wear parts of a car or add a step to ensure an EV’s charging wire is in the trunk.
