What a passport or ID is to a person, the Swiss or German vehicle registration document is to a vehicle: it is used for unique identification. The vehicle registration document contains all the essential data about the associated vehicle, and anyone who is not a mechanic or car enthusiast is unlikely to have taken more than a cursory glance inside. For the car dealer or a garage, however, the vehicle registration card is something like the holy grail. Car dealers in the purchase or sale of motor vehicles, garages for repairs and services, or even a traffic inspection center for the obligatory general inspection; they all hold vehicle registration documents in their hands every day, depend on them and process them constantly. Wouldn’t it be more convenient for these companies to be able to extract this data automatically and process the vehicle passes automatically? This is exactly what intelligent, AI-based OCR (Optical Character Recognition) accomplishes.
The car dealer in the fenced-in parking lot and with a musty shack – an image that is hardly present anymore.
The image of the car dealer with his rusting vehicles parked in the fenced parking lot, the cup of average coffee steaming away in the office shack, the hard drive of the dusty computer rattling away, more refusing service than great help, this image is probably quickly visible in the mind’s eye. However, it should also be clear that this is no longer the case. At least for the most part.
Technological advances and intelligent solutions have also arrived at car dealers and in garages.
Standards high, intelligent solutions needed for document processing
The image of a professional car dealer is certainly different, standards are high, intelligent solutions around processing procedures are becoming more and more important. Scaring off potential customers is unlikely to be a priority. These customers arrive with their vehicles and identification cards. Because nothing works without them. For the purchase and subsequent sale of a vehicle, the car dealer absolutely needs the vehicle registration document.
Vehicle registration document as the most important document
From the vehicle registration document, in addition to the personal data of the owner, all data relevant to the corresponding motor vehicle are taken. To look at this again from a car dealer’s point of view, this includes data such as:
- Car make and model
- First time on the market
- How many previous owners
- Last inspection
- Color
- Type certificate no.
- Chassis no.
What applies to car dealers also works in garages and traffic inspection centers
In addition to the data that is especially important for car dealers, other important data can be taken from the vehicle registration card that is used for processing in a garage or traffic inspection center:
- License plate number
- Insurance
- Size and weight
- Cantonal endorsements
- Other notes, specials (e.g. tuning)
Massive benefits for car dealers, garages and traffic inspection centers with the integration of intelligent, AI-based OCR for automated vehicle ID card processing.
Automated vehicle ID card processing with intelligent OCR software
The data from vehicle ID cards is therefore essential for any further processing. In order to make the best possible use of this data, automating the processing of vehicle registration documents is a key step. This automation is achieved with intelligent OCR software, which classifies and extracts all the data listed above from the vehicle registration documents and spits it out again as structured, machine-readable data. Thanks to this software, valuable time resources can not only be saved, but previously manual work steps can be completely automated. Looking at the different user perspectives, the benefits are as follows:
- Car dealers: with the data extracted by OCR, the car dealer can automatically determine when the first registration was, how long the car has been on the road (mileage), how many previous owners the vehicle has had, when the last inspection took place, and so on and so forth. Based on these insights, the car dealer can better estimate how much value the vehicle still has, which is a huge advantage in his day-to-day business around buying/selling.
- Garages: A garage relies on the vehicle ID just as much as the car dealer. In the case of a repair, it benefits massively from the automated extraction of the relevant data by the OCR software. Within seconds, for example, data from past repairs and services is automatically displayed to the staff, enabling simpler and better services.
- Traffic inspection center: during the main inspection of a vehicle, traffic inspection centers can save massive amounts of work by automatically processing vehicle ID cards. Thanks to intelligent, AI-based OCR, they always have an up-to-date overview of all essential data and any changes made to the vehicle in the past, such as tuning.
Intelligent, AI-based OCR for the win
Being able to automatically extract all key data from vehicle IDs with intelligent, AI-based OCR will be a significant advantage for all users, whether they are car dealers, garages, or inspection centers, so that they can make targeted optimizations in the future and differentiate themselves from the competition.
