20 July 2015

Over the past few years we’ve all witnessed the move from car values published monthly on paper to a digital, real-time valuations system. And while some have grumbled against the cost of such change, it’s wide agreed that better information has led to business.

This week I attended the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association’s annual technology conference which included a survey of members highlighting a few points that all businesses probably experience and that was a need for more data – proving it is the right (useful) data coupled to a concern about data overload.

One of the themes for the day was telematics and the connected car. Now we’ve all heard lots about the connected car and what the possibilities are. But like the BVRLA audience of leasing firms and fleet managers, I suspect retailers are also worried about the information overload when it comes to connected car information.

And it’s easy to imagine how that information overload could happen with valuations and the connected car.

Today we have increasingly detailed valuations in terms of up to the minute pricing. However if every car was connected, somewhere there would be a record of the exact history of the car – right down to every ‘sudden braking incident’ or ‘speed infringement’.

At this point, you’d have to ask if a car that can be proved to have spent most of its life gently cruising UK motorways would be worth more than the same make and model that has been owned by a track-day enthusiast?

What if, vehicle condition reporting factored in a standard measurement for how a car was driven over its life?

It’s theoretically possible, it’s just a question of how useful and valuable that information would be. And that point is up to you.

Tristan Young
Editorial Director
Auto Retail Network

Tags: connected cars, used car valuations, used cars, valuations