ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. -

Elcometer, an inspection equipment provider to the coatings industry, has worked in the remarketing space for about two decades, and its history in the auto manufacturing industry dates back even further.

And now, the company is going even deeper into remarketing. Elcometer will soon be launching a proprietary inspection tool for appraisers, buyers, finance companies and banks that is designed to calculate the diminished value of a vehicle from previous paint work.

This product, called the Elcometer Index Value, would provide a single number that gauges the severity of paint and body work that has been done on a vehicle.

Auto Remarketing recently caught up with Joe Walker, vice president of Elcometer, to talk about this tool, which will likely be launched in early 2015.

“Now, with the big issue of diminished value for paint and body work, that’s why we came up with the Elcometer Index Value,” Walker said. “So, if you’re a lender, and you’re going to lend on a used car, it might be nice to know if that vehicle has had previous paint work or not, because it could influence the amount of money that they’re going to see on the back-end. It allows the lender the opportunity to calculate diminished value before (lending on that vehicle).

“Just pick a high-end car, say a Mercedes or a Lexus. Is the same make and model worth the same amount of money if it’s been in an accident, as opposed to if it’s pristine? The answer is usually no,” he said. “But until the Elcometer Index Value, that diminished value was never able to be compared against a database of like vehicles and what they’ve sold for on the auction market. This gives lenders the opportunity to actually calculate the value of a vehicle precisely.”

Many tools have calculations for things like frame damage, mileage or tire wear, but Walker said there hadn’t previously been any metric telling diminished value from paint and body work — “yet most auto auction buyers are using one of our paint gauges to examine a vehicle before they purchase,” he noted.

“The Elcometer Index Value allows you to gauge severity of damage,” he added. “So if it’s a minor paintwork issue, it’s going to have a very minor variation in the Elcometer Index Value. If it’s a major body restoration, it’s going to show up in the Elcometer Index Value, as well.  And it’s linear between those points.”

More from Elcometer

In other news from the company, Elcometer announced that it is rolling out its new next generation Elcometer 456 coating thickness gauge with Bluetooth connectivity for use on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices.

“When used in conjunction with any iOS device running ElcoMaster mobile apps, data from the Elcometer 456 can now be easily and seamlessly transferred to an iOS device,” the company said in the product’s announcement.

Explaining more about ElcoMaster Mobile, officials said this is the company’s free data management app, and users of the app can transfer inspection data from their Elcometer gauges to their iOS device.

ElcoMaster can then instantaneously generate inspection reports, without moving over to a computer.

The company said its new fleet of Made for iPhone inspection gauges are designed to be seamlessly integrated into a customer’s paperless inspection applications. And since Elcometer uses Bluetooth, multiple gauges can be connected simultaneously.

The ElcoMaster Mobile App’s features allow users to do the following, as listed by Elcometer:

— Transfer inspection batches from their gauge to their mobile device to generate PDF reports instantly

— Store live readings directly on to their mobile devices, together with the measurement’s GPS coordinates and instantly plot them on a map – ideal for site inspections

— Add reading limits, photographs, general notes and comments to your inspection data

— E‐mail a PDF report anywhere in the world

“Having the ability to seamlessly generate professional inspection reports from the inspection site in an instant not only provides a competitive advantage to our customers, but also increases productivity as they no longer have to go back to the office to write a report — ElcoMaster does it for them,” said Elcometer managing director Michael Sellars.

The ElcoMaster App can be downloaded for free at the App Store on iPhone, iPad or iPod touch or by going to www.AppStore.com/ElcoMaster.