LaFontaine Auto Group goes all-in with high-tech inspection system
Editor’s note: This is a reported column, in which Steve Finlay periodically explores topics of interest to automakers and dealers for WardsAuto.
A scanning system that began as a bomb detector in Israel is making inroads for a more benign use at auto dealerships and elsewhere in the U.S.
UVeye, the company that makes the product, just scored a major account when the LaFontaine Automotive Group signed on to install the scanners at all of its outlets in Michigan, amounting to more than 40 locations.
Here’s how the system works: Vehicles drive through a short tunnel and over a floor-embedded scanner, both equipped with AI-powered high-speed cameras. The system then produces condition reports for the underbody, tires and exterior surface. UVeye calls it an automotive MRI.
The technology “will transform our process,” Ryan LaFontaine, CEO of LaFontaine Automotive Group, said at an event featuring the new scanner at his flagship General Motors dealership in Highland Township, north of Detroit.
The system pinpoints problems that aren’t readily apparent, such as underbody fluid seepage and damaged components; tire wear, alignment issues and exterior damage such as dents and scratches.
“The transparency is awesome whether on the variable or fixed-ops side,” LaFontaine added. “It shows damage and what’s really wrong with the car.”
UVeye’s vision for car inspections extends beyond dealerships
UVeye CEO Amir Hever has a grand vision for the product, and foresees it being used “pretty much everywhere,” including parking lots, car washes and grocery stores, he told me at the LaFontaine gathering.
“Those are the places you go to a few times a week,” Hever said. While there, he explained, shoppers could routinely run their vehicles through the UVeye scanner to get a quick condition report.
“We want people to be able to do that as often as possible and be more proactive in knowing if there is something about their car which they need to be aware of,” Hever said.
Currently, about 1,000 units are in use in the U.S.. The company’s investors include General Motors, Toyota and Volvo, all of which have dealerships using the system. Besides dealerships, UVeye product users include fleet and car rental companies that want to make sure their vehicles come back in the same condition as when they left.
In an earlier WardsAuto interview, UVeye CEO Amir Hever had told me how the idea for the system came about.
He got the idea after an encounter about a decade ago at a security checkpoint at an Israeli government facility. A guard was using a mirror attached to the end of a pole to inspect the underbelly of cars for concealed explosives. But Hever had doubts.
“Do you really think you can find a hidden bomb with that mirror?” he recalled asking the guard, who, well, didn’t say yes.
Hever, an expert in image processing, and his brother, Ohad, a medical engineering expert, went on to develop UVeye’s high-tech scanning system and co-founded the company. Ohad Hever is the COO.
How LaFontaine Automotive Group plans to use the system
Carlos Mojica, the LaFontaine dealership’s retail development senior manager, sat down to talk about how the dealer group will optimally use the system.
“We all know customers have hesitancy going into a repair facility,” he said of skeptics who may question whether their vehicle really needs the repairs the shop is recommending.
“We want to debunk that experience and earn trust through transparency,” he added. “This brings consumer and dealership staff on the same page about the vehicle. That’s the most important piece.”
Mojica notes that the scanner doesn’t replace the work of auto technicians. They’re still responsible for diagnosing and fixing vehicles.
“But UVeye makes their work a little easier because you have that prior information before a vehicle enters a service bay.”
Mojica said dealership used-car operations also can use the scanners for trade-in appraisals.
“The undercarriage scan is a huge feature” in that regard, he said. Typically, a trade-in appraiser isn’t able to thoroughly inspect the undercarriage, and may miss exterior mars during a visual walkaround.
Attending the LaFontaine-UVeye event was Elgie Bright, a former General Motors district manager, who now chairs the automotive and industry departments at Northwood University in Midland, Michigan. Northwood is known for its retail automotive curriculum. Many of its alumni work at or run car dealerships.
I asked Professor Bright if the latest in automotive technology is covered in the classroom. He said the curriculum includes helping students be part of the digital transformation, so that technology and its tools can work in their favor.
“It’s important to include that in the classroom, because students definitely will see it when they get out into the industry,” said Bright. “Being at the forefront, not behind, is important for us.”