A number of startups are racing to make vehicle inspections faster, easier, and cheaper. Self Inspection, a startup based in San Diego, believes it has them all beat with its AI-powered service \u2014 and now it has convinced outside investors.<\/p>\n
Self Inspection, founded in 2021, is set to announce Thursday it\u2019s raised $3 million in seed round co-led by Costanoa Ventures and DVx Ventures, the firm run by former Tesla president Jon McNeill. Joining the round was Westlake Financial, which handles more than one million vehicle transactions annually.<\/p>\n
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Karim Bousta, partner at DVx Ventures, believes the traditional vehicle inspection process is ripe for innovation. Self Inspection\u2019s technology \u201cnot 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,\u201d Bousta said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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The seed round is validation of the tech the company has been working on for the last few years, CEO Constantine Yaremtso told TechCrunch. Self Inspection already counts Avis and CarOffer (a digital wholesaler owned by CarGurus) as customers, along with Westlake Financial.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically we\u2019re going to start expanding, growing, and scaling,\u201d Yaremtso said about the funding.<\/p>\n
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Self Inspection has taken a much different path from UVEye, which recently raised $191 million for its AI-powered drive-through inspection technology.<\/p>\n
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Self Inspection only needs a smartphone camera, although its software can also leverage data pulled from a car\u2019s OBD2 port.<\/p>\n
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The company trained its AI models on what it describes as \u201cone of the largest datasets of damaged vehicles.\u201d Those models can quickly detect damage and assess the severity, before generating a cost estimate and \u201cone of the most thorough vehicle inspection reports available in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat 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,\u201d Yaremtso said.<\/p>\n
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Self Inspection\u2019s service is designed to be simple but configurable, which also sets it apart from competitors like Ravin, Yaremtso said.<\/p>\n
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In other words, Self Inspection\u2019s software is not one-size-fits-all.<\/p>\n
What that means for customers is access to a slick back-end configurator. For instance, if a fleet or vehicle marketplace wants to prioritize certain high-wear areas of a car, or add a step to make sure an EV\u2019s charging cable is in the trunk, they can just drag and drop those in Self Inspection\u2019s software.<\/p>\n
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Self Inspection is also designed to be easier to use.<\/p>\n
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The software doesn\u2019t require users to be a specific distance away from a car as they take photos or videos, like other services do. And for now, it\u2019s not even a standalone app. Self Inspection integrates the software into its customers\u2019 own workflows, and all vehicle inspections are done through a smartphone\u2019s web browser \u2014 accessed after a user gets texted or emailed a link.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has a good camera, everyone has a good phone, everyone knows how to capture photos. As soon as they receive text message or email, it\u2019s easy to go,\u201d Yaremtso said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to give this tool to marketplaces, or banks, so anyone can inspect super simply and expedite the sales cycle process.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n