Monk and autobiz sign partnership for damage recognition
The aim of the agreement is to combine the advanced image-based damage recognition technology of French start-up Monk with the experience of autobiz, a European leader in the automotive valuation. This product is the result of joint R&D between the two companies.
Damage recognition within smartphone reach
The partnership between two French tech companies aims to make the vehicle inspection process more reliable and simplify the vehicle appraisal process, within the framework of their trade-in at the point-of-sale or at a distance. Through their partnership, autobiz and Monk will be amongst the first in Europe to put the power of damage recognition at the service of professionals. The aim is to integrate this technology as effectively as possible into autobiz’s trade-in software for truly practical daily use by all professionals in the used car industry. The solution developed works with a smartphone without heavy and constraining investments in fixed equipment and dedicated spaces.
Indeed, during a trade-in, the professional has to manage several constraints: be quick and efficient in dealing with the customer, record all the vehicle’s costs accurately in order to control reconditioning costs, generate a detailed description to resell the trade-in vehicles more quickly, and finally, calculate the trade-in and resale prices as safely and as accurately as possible in order to optimise margins.
In a context where the used car market in 2021 will necessarily be under pressure, making the process of selling used cars more flexible can only help its players in their search for efficiency and thus optimise the time spent in customer relations.
We are already using artificial intelligence for the automated calculation of trade-in prices with great success. More than 90% of our sales outlet purchasing decisions are calculated by our algorithms. Following an appraisal, in a matter of moments, our programs identify the vehicle, value the reconditioning costs, assess trade-in risks, determine the best resale channel, and provide a guaranteed price to our partners. The addition of Monk’s artificial intelligence to our processes will further reduce the required appraisal time and standardise the cost statements between salespeople.
says Emmanuel Labi, Managing Director of autobiz.
An immediate potential of more than 4,500 user points of sale
Through this cooperation programme, autobiz provides Monk with tens of thousands of datasets from its tools, as well as a test platform for more than 100 professional buyers. From the first quarter of 2020, more than 4,500 points of sale and 8 manufacturers who are already customers of autobiz trade-in solutions will be able to benefit from this innovation.
We’re very proud to announce this partnership with the European leader autobiz that will get Monk’s tech and AI in the hands of thousands of car dealers. Here we demonstrate together that, using our algorithms, a second-hand car trade-in can easily be achieved at distance and at a large scale. Our common project will benefit to multiple remarketing professionals and give them access to the tools we have a designed for the industry over the past months, our combined expertise and the autobiz management’s exceptional support are key to Monk’s development.
adds Aboubakr Laraki, co-founder and CEO of Monk.
About autobiz
Since 2004, autobiz has been supporting all European players in the automotive industry with trade-in solutions. This support is based on 20 years of data history as well as web, software, and the business know-how of the company’s 280 employees. Today based in La Défense (92), autobiz also has offices in Berlin, Valencia (Spain) and Milan. autobiz assists more than 20 leaders in used remarketing (manufacturers, bankers, leasers, bidders…) as well as 5,000 points-of-sale in 22 countries across Europe.