UVEye Provides Automotive ‘MRI’ For Car Service Customers, Dealers

American consumers traditionally frown on several types of experiences at auto dealerships, but here’s a big one: They get their vehicle inspected in a repair lane, and the service writer comes back with a list of problems as long as her arm.

You might have taken the vehicle in for a funny sound from the front left brake, then you find out that you also might need new tires, engine tuning, and oh yeah it looks like your muffler is rusting through.

UVEye can’t promise to take the angst out of this kind of all-too-typical experience for car owners at dealerships. But the General Motors-backed inspection-software startup is well on its way to providing a quick experience for customers, a more comprehensive and data-backed catalog of their vehicle’s problems than has been available, and a roadmap to greater service profitability for dealers.

“It’s like an external MRI of the car,” explained Yaron Saghiv, chief marketing officer for the Tel Aviv, Israel-based startup.

Indeed, a car being subjected to UVEye literally passes in seconds through a gate that consists of sensors, cameras and computers that nearly instantaneously evaluate the physical condition of the vehicle and do a mechanical evaluation as well. Artificial intelligence and machine learning enhance everything by compiling the photos and other data and filling out an understanding of what’s happening in parts of the vehicle that can’t be seen. The dealership issues a report that details everything that needs attention, with photos and data.

“You’re seeing the complete undercarriage condition, including any rust, broken parts or leakage, and the service advisor can explain exactly what you’re seeing,” said UVEye CEO and co-founder Amir Hever. “You’re getting detailed information about every single tire you have, for example: cuts, wear. And also the whole exterior. What is the condition of the vehicle? What needs to be serviced? What needs to be replaced? You get a full understanding.”

For what the executives said was “a small installation fee” and a monthly subscription that costs dealers $3,000 to $5,500 a month per gate, UVEye has been put in at least a couple of hundred U.S. dealerships already. That was before the company’s just-announced deal to provide UVEye to CarMax for buyers of vehicles sold at auction.

“CarMax’s purpose is to drive integrity by being honest and transparent in every interaction,” Dave Unice, CarMax vice president of merchandising operations, said in a press release. “Our partnership with UVEye allows us to further this mission by providing dealers with highly detailed imagery on auction vehicles online.”

General Motors’ GM Ventures capital-venture arm agreed last year to help fund the development and commercialization of the UVEye system.

“This gives higher credibility and higher close rates and ultimately more buying and more [consumer] trusting to the dealer,” Saghiv said.

Added Hever: “We don’t want [dealers] to oversell you, but we want to make sure the vehicle you’re driving is safe to use. That’s why it’s our recommendation to replace things only if there might be a safety concern or it’s a critical system.”