TransUnion's Autodealer Guide has been digitised after more than 55 years as a print publication.
The guide is a monthly printed publication that is used across all sectors of the auto industry to uniquely identify a vehicle derivative. It is also used as a base for determining used vehicle values for trade and retail.
The digital platform, Digital Dealers Guide (DDG), sits within the 1Check app which has close to 40 000 and is reported to be used approximately 200 000 times per month.
According to TransUnion, the DDG will give dealers and sellers access to real-time and VIN-specific data. "The difference with Digital Dealers Guide is that it can give dealers and the like a real-time view of the market value of a vehicle. By placing the guide on a digital platform, it is possible to take the entire valuation chain to the next level.
"It also gives users the ability to download the monthly vehicle values onto their devices and thereafter utilise the app in an offline version. This has the benefit of no data costs as well as not needing any mobile signal for usage which is not the case with most mobile apps. The apps have been built natively for each platform. Some of the technologies utilised are Cordova, Angular JS and Ionic," explains Kriben Reddy, director: product development for auto information solutions at TransUnion.
Reddy highlights that the digitisation of the publication also means that available values will increase to 224 brands, covering a total of over 2 839 model ranges with 14 972 variants. "The printed dealers guide has approximately 30% fewer vehicle values than are available in the total market. The 30% covers vehicles with low volume vehicle sales, which are not feasible to include in print due to the physical size of the book etc. However, on a digital platform all the available data can be exposed to a user thereby taking the total brand, model ranges and variants up to the above number. These kinds of capabilities will be useful to a number of other industries as well. An upcoming feature will also provide values of a new vehicle within its first 12 months of being sold, which has not been available traditionally."
Lee Naik, CEO of TransUnion Africa, says the guide will gradually empower the auto industry to take the next step towards digital transformation. "This data-driven platform can enable better decision-making in relation to a specific asset in this industry. Accurate data relating to specific vehicles helps insurance to reassess their risk models, to make sure their risk premium is correctly adjusted. The same applies to finance sectors who base their risk assessments predominantly on the person, not the asset," he notes.
The DDG, via the 1Check app, is available through the Google play store for android devices, App Store for IOS devices and is also available through a responsive Web version at www.tu1check.co.za.
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