With more and more dealers and buyers snatching up inventory through digital channels as a complement to physical auctions, as well as buyers and sellers calling for stronger vehicle images in condition reports both in-lane and online, enhanced imagery is becoming increasingly important.

Manheim is showing its customers just how aware they are of image importance with its new enhanced vehicle imaging suite.

Manheim unveiled the new tool at its national client advisory board meeting last week.  

The new package offers customers up to 15 vehicle images, and what the company is calling “heat map” graphics, designed to help buyers quickly assess vehicle condition. The company also now has a dedicated photo staff to ensure quality imaging.

The goal of the enhanced offering is to ensure consistent image quality and standards across all Manheim locations.

The product will first debut with commercial customers, such as Toyota Financial Services, and will be completed for OVE.com and Manheim.com, and at 20 Manheim operating locations in early July.

The roll out will expand throughout 2014 as customers sign up and dealer requirements are refined, the company said.

“Through customer research, we found that getting detailed condition reports with great vehicle images remained an ongoing point of frustration,” said Bonnie Hensler, vice president of product development for Manheim. “Customers told us that having access to images that clearly and quickly assess what is wrong or special about a vehicle would give them greater confidence when buying and selling. This feedback guided our investment and development actions.”  

During the demo at last week’s event, Manheim customers used the new imaging technology to take pictures of vehicles and compare them to the photos taken by Manheim’s professional photographers.

Designed as a fun contest, this worked to show the quality standards of the new product offering.

"In 2009, we started selling our vehicles primarily online, and by doing this we found there was a big gap with the amount of vehicles being sold and the quality of the photos,” said Mike Reid, Toyota Financial Services’ national manager of remarketing.  “That’s when we started looking at the quality of our imaging process, to ensure we were delivering a good quality product to our customers. Through our partnership with Manheim, the Enhanced Vehicle Imaging process has helped us move forward in doing this, and the zoom capability is a cool feature.”

As multiplatform buying and selling becomes more and more of a reality in the industry, vehicle condition report consistency remains one of the integral keys to the wholesale technology progression.

In fact, In mid-January, Auto Auction Services Corp. announced a new industry standard for vehicle condition data reporting — developed in partnership with Manheim — that is designed to foster consistency throughout the business.  

AASC said in its announcement that thanks to a deal with the National Auto Auction Association, it would soon be providing AASC member auctions with Manheim’s AutoGrade service, which aims to provide a consistent condition grading scale throughout the industry, regardless of platform, provider or location.

And as many can attest, having comprehensive condition reports with detailed imagery is important both in the digital space and for buyers and sellers on the ground at the physical sale.

For more on this recent development, click here.