Recovery

With the auto finance default rate in December rising above 1 percent and new data showing more than 7 million people with a contract 90 days or more delinquent, it might be a busy year for repossessions and recoveries. To help agencies, Advantage GPS, a Procon Analytics company, formed a strategic partnership with the American Recovery Association (ARA).

According to a news release distributed on Wednesday, ARA made this move to continue developments that include what the association dubbed a “Unity Initiative” with Time Finance Adjusters. Together they plan to strengthen their relationships with other leading trades associations, including:

— National Automotive Finance Association
— American Financial Services Association
— National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions
— National Independent Automobile Dealers Association
— Other state and regional trades associations

“Our Unity Initiative with TFA and the enhancement for our relationships with a variety of national trade associations and companies like Advantage GPS will only serve to create a better and more profitable environment for our members,” American Recovery Association executive director Les McCook said.

This specific partnership is designed to enhance the ability of ARA members to more quickly and less expensively locate and recovery finance company collateral.

“The strategic alliance between ARA and Advantage GPS comes at a time when the recovery association is moving forward with important initiatives to improve the health of the industry, work more closely with their finance partners and employ cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence,” said David Meyer, president of Advantage GPS.

“We have just launched our newest product line, the low-cost, 4G, wire-free Revo family of GPS devices, which dovetails perfectly with the goals for recovery association,” Meyer continued.

Advantage GPS rolled out Revo earlier this year. It’s a wire-free GPS device designed to be a “smart” tool to mitigate losses for finance companies and also reducing costs for recovery agents.

The Advantage GPS platform includes smart impound lot technology, including all locations of ARA members across North America. The tool automatically can create geofences around ARA impound lots and send finance companies alerts when one of their vehicles enters.

Advantage GPS highlighted this capability, along with a risk mitigation dashboard that is powered by artificial intelligence, can enhance the ability for finance companies to mitigate losses, while making it easier for recovery companies to locate and access vehicles.

And now the company has a stronger bond with ARA.

“My relationship with Les and ARA has stemmed for nearly two decades,” Meyer said. “It’s exciting to partner with him and his team once again.”

McCook also said he has known Meyer for some time and understands the GPS collateral protection device industry well.

“We fully welcome working with an innovative group focused on eliminating outdated technology in the market,” McCook said. “In our industry, it’s crucial to track and implement the latest technologies to help our members thrive. Employing artificial intelligence to assist recovery agents in locating vehicles is a game-changer.

“We will look back on this, and wonder how we every did our jobs without it,” he added.

Dumb question: Who wants to make more money? We all do, of course. But is opening your business to more credit-challenged consumers worth chasing more delinquencies and repos? Good question; and one that becomes problematic if you don’t take the right steps to minimize your risk. But, can I reduce risk and make more money without spending more? Great question.

Traditionally, the industry’s approach to managing risk involves manual processes that are tedious and time-consuming. Maintaining and following up on exhaustive consumer records of everything — phone numbers, addresses, employment — requires time and manpower you simply don’t have. As a result, taking on the operational cost of expanding your subprime business could be a nonstarter. One look at the consumer contact and employment statistics for this market segment underscores the burden.

The information chase

According to the FactorTrust Underbanked Index: Consumer Stability report, a borrower who has changed his or her mobile phone number four or more times over a 90-day period has a 77 percent higher default risk than a borrower who has done so only twice. Additionally, a borrower who has had three or more ZIP codes over a 90-day period has a 63 percent higher default risk than a borrower with one ZIP code. Further, among the underbanked, 16 percent applied with a different employer within 30 days, 20 percent within 60 days, 23 percent within 120 days and 34 percent within one year.

Remember the Wayne Gretzky quote, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been?” Keeping up with subprime consumers is like trying to predict where that puck will be, which is nearly impossible without the tools to help.

If cars could talk

There is an option for managing risk in the subprime market that supplements a dealer’s ability to vet these consumers: gathering vehicle intelligence. With advances in aftermarket telematics and driver analytics, the latest technology can provide customer insights far beyond the standard vehicle location data associated with early GPS systems.

When it launched onto the buy-here, pay-here scene more than 15 years ago, GPS made it much easier to find a vehicle for repo. Over the years, the technology has evolved to look at location data over time, with the ability to predict where a vehicle will likely be at any time of the day or night with incredible accuracy. For example, the technology can now identify a change of job or home address through deviations in driving patterns. Let’s face it, unless they’re the James Bond type, most people have a set daily routine bouncing back and forth between home and work. Modern GPS solutions can detect major life changes by analyzing location data in relation to time of day, day of week, and pattern frequency.

Similarly, these same algorithms can automate and expedite loan stipulations that typically require hours of calling to verify addresses and workplace information. It’s also useful in preparing agents for repossession, when needed, to better target the right place and time for recovery. Accurately predicting vehicle location under specific circumstances (such as during Monday night football) leads to easier, less costly and less risky recoveries.

Smart solutions combine vehicle intelligence with proactive alerts to further reduce operational costs. Cars that aren’t driving, aren’t paying, so automated alerts for “non-driving” scenarios, such as vehicles impounded to tow lots, abandoned vehicles, and battery disconnects save dealers thousands of dollars each year. The ability to set geo-fences — virtual boundaries around key locations like tow lots, state borders and ports of entry — can help you keep your finger on the pulse of your assets without any effort on your part.

As with any technology purchase, reliability should be one of the main evaluation criteria. Leading GPS providers have always-on platforms (ask about uptime and availability rates) and wide-reaching network support that keeps vehicles connected no matter where they roam. You should ask any provider you’re vetting about the quality and quantity of the data its devices track. It’s no longer enough to monitor vehicle location every 24 hours, as was the industry standard. You need near real-time visibility that can only come from telematics devices that report data at 5-minute intervals or less, giving you the confidence to act when action is warranted. 

Finally, the unique value of modern telematics is its ability to drive increased payments. Gone are the days when “starter interrupt” was the only way to get the attention of a delinquent customer. With 85 percent of the U.S. population carrying smartphones, the key to customer engagement is mobile. If the GPS technology you’re considering (or currently using) doesn’t offer a mobile component that opens up a soft-touch but high visibility communication channel between you and your customer, keep shopping.

Ask and ye shall receive

To thrive and survive in this hyper-competitive business, dealers must look beyond their current constraints in servicing this segment. Advanced vehicle intelligence offers not only a safer path to do business with the subprime consumer, but also the operational efficiency necessary to improve the bottom line. If you’re thinking about GPS as a recovery tool, think again, and remember what your teacher said back in grade school: “there are no dumb questions” — except the ones you don’t ask your suppliers.

Brian Deeley is a director of product management at Spireon. He can be reached at bdeeley@spireon.com.

Anyone who has been involved with the repossession industry over the past several years knows that the world looks very different today than before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau arrived. Most of the focus during this period has been on third- and fourth-party oversight. Given the CFPB’s official position on vendor management, it is no longer acceptable to rely solely on the agent or repossession management company to keep their shops in order. 

Today, extensive vetting, on-site visits to every storage lot, proper contracting, performance/compliance score cards and broader insurance coverage are the norm. As a result, lenders and regulators can be comfortable that the agents recovering cars on their behalf have been well vetted and are closely monitored. Indeed, the CFPB has expressed general satisfaction on this aspect of vendor management

At this point, there are two primary areas the CFPB is focused on when it comes to repossession:

1. Fees that consumers are charged for retrieving personal property, and to a lesser extent redeeming their vehicle

2. Repossessions made in error

Adequately addressing these issues will pretty much squeeze out the remaining regulatory concern and legal exposure.

The “fees” issue has largely been addressed, especially by major lenders. Most have either mandated that any consumer charges be billed back to the lender (and posted to the customer’s account) or the allowable charges have been capped at defined and reasonable levels. There is still the issue of ensuring that agents follow the requirements, but we will save that for another post.

This leaves the issue of repossessions in error as the final major area to be addressed.  Indeed, the CFPB has referenced the matter in its last two bulletins. 

The vast majority of repossession in errors occur due to communication breakdowns.  We see two types:

1. Internal communication breakdown within the lender’s operation where the auto repossession management company or agent was not notified when a repossession order was put on hold or closed. As a repossession management vendor for lenders, there is not much we can do to impact their internal processes/operations. 

2. Vendor(s) communication breakdowns when a hold/close has been issued properly by the lender but the proper communication and systems updating by all involved parties did not take place.  

The latter is largely a technology issue. The lenders, management companies (forwarders) and agents generally operate on different platforms and degrees of sophistication. And for each of these players, there are multiple platform options.  Breakdowns can occur at each point along the way and these breakdowns account for a large percentage of repossession in errors. The diagram at the top of this page illustrates the challenge and the components/integrations that must be in place to solve the problem.

To address the challenge, there must be close to real time communication from lender to forwarder to agency system of record to repo truck driver. Fortunately, recent improvements in systems integrations and the emergence of mobile platforms supporting repossession agency operations, provide solutions to the challenge, for the first time. 

Today, there are two primary mobile platforms that, if integrated properly, can support the data exchange requirements. These are RDN/Clearplan and the Recovery Compliance Mobile (RCM) platform provided by MBSi. While each takes a somewhat different approach, both are solid systems that are designed to provide compliance functionality at the truck level.  The recent acquisition of Clearplan by RDN and KAR Auction Services does offer some additional functionality and efficiencies made possible by the fact that the vast majority of repossession agencies use these two platforms as their systems of record.

If your institution relies on repossession management companies (forwarders) to coordinate the repossession activity, deep integrations with these platforms must be in place. Due to internal constraints, very few have the capability to facilitate the data between the various parties regardless of the source. At ALS Resolvion, we have invested heavily in these integrations and by mid-February, we will be only utilizing repossession agencies that deploy this type of mobile technology in the field.

Our expectation is that more and more lenders will be mandating real time “two-way” communication all the way down to the truck level. Doing so will bring us all very close to meeting both regulator and lender senior management expectations for squeezing out repossession made in error.

Mike Levison is the chief executive officer of ALS Resolvion. More details about the company can be found at www.alsresolvion.com.

Just ahead of the American Financial Services Association’s Vehicle Finance Conference, Allied Solutions announced the restructuring of its claims and recovery product, REPOPlus & Track.

The provider of insurance, lending and marketing products to financial institutions in the U.S. for more than 35 years, explained what’s new with REPOPlus & Track on Monday. In addition to claims and recovery services provided with REPOPlus, four distinct insurance monitoring options are available in an effort to offer flexibility to lenders seeking a cost-effective, efficient insurance tracking solution. They include:

— Auto Match
— Basic Track
— Active Track
— Advanced Track

After years of offering REPOPlus as a recovery service to finance companies, Allied Solutions indicated that it utilized this experience to develop value-added tracking options to maximize cost benefit.

The company highlighted each track offers a variety of support for electronic insurance notifications, loan files, paper insurance documents and borrower communications. These options can provide insurance monitoring and tracking support for a myriad of finance companies, including small to large volume and prime to subprime markets.

Allied Solutions insisted the combination of REPOPlus & Track with insurance monitoring options can provide finance companies a comprehensive loss and recovery and optimization program. Track solution options range from basic to full coverage of service monitoring.

“Allied Solutions recognizes that our clients have a diverse set of needs when it comes to their monitoring and optimization programs,”, CEO, Allied Solutions chief executive officer Pete Hilger said.

“We have created a comprehensive solution that ensures lenders receive the information they need to best measure and assess risk, protect their collateral and ensure optimization of insurance recovery claims,” Hilger went on to say.

Allied Solutions will share additional information about REPOPlus & Track during AFSA’s conference, which begins on Tuesday in San Francisco.

KAR Auction Services selected one of its executives who has been with the company for a decade for a role with its business unit — PAR North America — a provider of vehicle transition services with coast-to-coast solutions for recovery management, skip-tracing, remarketing and title services.

The company announced on Thursday that Stacey White — among the 2018 Women in Remarketing honorees — will lead the remarketing services division at PAR North America as senior vice president. KAR explained this appointment aims to further develop and expand PAR’s remarketing products for its customers.

“At PAR, we are working to transform the asset recovery industry to a more streamlined, convenient experience for our clients,”, PAR North America president Lisa Scott said.

“With more than 20 years of remarketing experience, Stacey understands our customers’ needs,” Scott continued. “She is a dedicated, driven automotive industry professional with a proven track record of success — a great addition to our already dynamic senior leadership team.”

In her new role, White will focus on implementing solutions that further streamline PAR’s customer experience. White will work to expand customer relationships, anticipate client needs and develop new services and tools to meet those needs.

White previously served as senior vice president of KAR enterprise optimization, overseeing procurement and sourcing strategies. She led a team charged with standardizing operations and processes at newly acquired auctions.

White joined KAR in 2008 as an operational compliance auditor. She began her career with GMAC in 1993 as an acquisitions administrator and worked in analyst roles for acquisitions, customer relations, accounting and remarketing.

Some smartphones no longer need a cord to recharge, and now Advantage GPS has a unit that doesn’t need wires to function in a vehicle connected with a retail installment sales contract held by an auto finance company.

On Wednesday, the Procon Analytics company that captures and translates raw data into actionable business intelligence, launched its suite of wire-free GPS tracking devices aimed at solving one of the most common problems with using these units to mitigate risk. The company believes Revo is a game-changing, wire-free family of GPS vehicle tracking devices that is designed to revolutionize the way buy-here, pay-here dealers and subprime auto finance companies protect their collateral and gain valuable automotive analytics.

“Over the past 10 years battery technology has steadily improved and has now reached a level of long-term, stable dependability,” said Bill Cheney, chief technology officer and managing partner for Procon Analytics. “This in conjunction with the advancements in 4G LTE cellular and GPS receiver technologies have made our Revo family of products practical and affordable.

“We believe these Internet of Things innovations will revolutionize the GPS tracking industry,” Cheney continued.

The company highlighted Revo’s sophisticated, battery-powered technology can be secured almost anywhere in a vehicle in five minutes or less. Because of Revo’s revolutionary technology, battery life and ease of installation, Advantage GPS contends the device can reduce the No. 1 reason for device failure — improper installation — to near zero.

“It was important to design battery-operated devices would hold up for the duration of long-term finance contracts to protect our customers’ vehicle assets,” said David Meyer, president of Advantage GPS.

“Working side-by-side with leading experts in battery technology, we did it. We developed three new wire-free devices that provide more flexibility, control and, in the end, reduce costs and the hassles of installation for our customers,” Meyer continued.

The company explained all three Revo devices — SmartStop, 3000 and 4000 — take only about 10 seconds to activate and are immediately connected to the platform via 4G LTE wireless technology. The three different Revo models can give dealers and finance companies the flexibility to match device to loan terms or risk factors.

Other capabilities of the units include:

• Revo SmartStop: Collects a continuous stream of data for all start and stop events of a vehicle up to 3,000 events or approximately one year.

• Revo 3000: Provides auto finance companies with flexible operating modes that gives them more control and help preserve the battery life of the unit. The unit is designed to capture 3,000 events just like the SmartStop, but this device has a life span of approximately three years.

• Revo 4000: Includes the three flexible modes and captures at least 4,000 events for at least four to five years.

The company went on to mention the discovery, standby, and recovery operating modes are an integral part of the Revo 3000 and 4000. Here is a further explanation:

• Discovery mode: Provides a detailed history of the vehicle for the first 250 events. This sets up the vehicle’s routine. Much is learned during this period, but once completed downshifts to the less power-consumptive standby mode.

• Standby mode: Reports a vehicle’s location and device health (such as battery life and tamper alerts) twice each day. Finance companies, when they see a need, can change to the third recovery mode. Despite the low-power consumption of standby mode, the company said valuable data is collected every day.

• Recovery mode: With a simple keyboard click, Revo reports a vehicle’s movement every five minutes and also sends stop events. To preserve battery life, Revo will automatically revert to standby mode (after seven days or 500 events) or SmartStop mode based on the customer’s product choice.

Importantly, the company added that Revo devices also have many of the same features that hard-wired devices do, including:

— Drive reports
— Stop reports
— Repo mobile tool
— Geofencing
— Tamper alerts
— Battery life indicator
— 4G LTE service

Meyer pointed out that what it has doesn’t come with is the average $55 installation fee, extra cables and accessories and a device service plan. He said the company has already started shipping Revo devices to auto lenders across the country.

“We also guarantee the number of events for each Revo device,” Meyer said. “That guarantee, along with the savings from not having to pay for hard-wire installations will save dealers thousands of dollars during the course of a year, with nearly no installation failures.”

On Friday, KAR Auction Services announced an addition to the management team for one of its business units, Recovery Database Network (RDN).

Joining the provider of specialized software and data solutions to customers across the repossession and disposition value chain as vice president of business development is John Sibbitt.

The company highlighted Sibbitt brings eight years of management, operations and asset recovery experience to RDN.

“John has a proven track record of success in the repo industry with strong leadership and customer relationship building skills,” KAR president Peter Kelly said.

“As part of what is now an integrated management team for RDN and Clearplan, John will help us expand our customer base and footprint as we deliver the most powerful software platform in the industry,” Kelly continued.

In his new role, Sibbitt will be responsible for managing current RDN client relationships, identifying opportunities for growth and expanding the client network. 

Sibbitt previously served as vice president of operations at PAR North America, a leading U.S. provider of vehicle transition services with coast-to-coast solutions for recovery management, skip-tracing, remarketing and title services — also a KAR business unit.

Sibbitt was part of the team that launched PAR Platinum Compliance; the culmination of a year-long project to roll out a compliance, due diligence and transparency tool. He managed all of PAR’s vendor network, overseeing compliance and managing the relationships of more than 700 recovery vendors.

Before joining PAR in 2012, Sibbitt oversaw a large specialty portfolio for Liberty Recovery Services.

Before the federal government shutdown took hold, the Federal Communications Commission adopted new rules that can impact phone numbers auto finance company collection departments might be trying to regain contact with delinquent contract holders.

The new FCC rules are designed to establish a reassigned numbers database that the regulator said will reduce the number of unwanted phone calls Americans receive. 

The new rules establish a single, comprehensive database with information provided by phone companies that callers will be able to use to avoid calling reassigned numbers. Callers using the database will be able to find out if telephone numbers assigned to consumers who want their calls have been disconnected and made eligible for reassignment. Any such numbers can then be purged from their call lists, thereby decreasing the number of unwanted calls to consumers.

To further encourage callers to use the database, the FCC is providing callers a safe harbor from liability for any calls to reassigned numbers caused by database error. 

“The problem is a simple one,” FCC chairman Ajit Pai said. “A doctor’s office is trying to reach a patient and calls what it thinks is the patient’s phone number. But the patient has changed numbers, and her old number has been reassigned to someone else. So someone with no relationship to the doctor’s office or the patient receives the call. 

“This isn’t good for anyone,” Pai continued. “The new holder of the number is annoyed by a call meant for someone else. The patient misses out on what could be an important call from her doctor’s office. And the doctor’s office is unable to reach the patient and could face a lawsuit under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for unknowingly placing the call in question. 

Of course, this scenario applies to a wide range of businesses and customers beyond doctors’ offices and patients. And avoiding it benefits everybody. It’s good for individuals who receive a new phone number.  It’s good for individuals changing phone numbers. And it’s good for businesses,” Pai went on to say.

The FCC insisted the rules respond to consumer groups, trade associations and state and federal authorities that asked the commission to establish a single, comprehensive database as the best solution to reducing calls to reassigned numbers while minimizing burdens on both callers and providers.

“This database will be managed by an independent third-party administrator selected through a competitive bidding process, and that administrator will receive information about permanently disconnected numbers from reporting providers,” Pai said.

“To ease the burden on small providers, we allow them an additional six months to begin reporting to the database administrator,” he continued. “Finally, we adopt a safe harbor from TCPA liability for those callers that rely on the database to learn if a number has been reassigned. This will ensure that a responsible caller who uses this database will not be held liable for accidentally making a call to a reassigned number because of a database error.”

FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly expressed concerns about what the FCC’s moves still lack. O’Rielly framed his assessment in light of decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit aimed at offering clarity about the TCPA.

“While our action helps in addressing abusive and predatory TCPA litigation, I do remain concerned about the costs of the database for service providers and users,” O’Rielly said. “Lessons from the private sector have taught us that requisite database dips to verify reassignment can become cost-prohibitive for businesses. 

“Moreover, as structured in the order, data dips are likely to surge at certain times and will require additional investments by the administrator in server capacity to handle peak traffic days — the costs of which will ultimately be borne by users,” he continued.

“I urge the North American Numbering Council (NANC) — to whom we have delegated substantial discretion to develop a database administration plan — to focus on minimizing costs and burdens for users and service providers and ensuring that it is reasonably affordable for all to use.

“Today’s action is a positive development in reversing the previous FCC’s deeply-flawed 2015 TCPA Order,” O’Rielly went on to say. “However, much more work remains, particularly on narrowing the prior commission’s ludicrous definition of ‘autodialer,’ and eliminating the lawless revocation of consent rule. I am optimistic that our next steps will go a long way in reading the TCPA in a logical way and limiting wasteful and frivolous TCPA litigation that does nothing to protect consumers or stop illegal robocalls.”

Just like some of its auto finance company clients, CalAmp is diversifying its portfolio beyond its GPS solution division that can help with recoveries and mitigate risk.

On Tuesday, CalAmp announced a strategic partnership with Pioneer Electronics to expand connected vehicle services through Pioneer’s aftermarket and installation specialist channels in the United States.

Technavio market research analysts project the global automotive aftermarket telematics market to grow at a compound annual growth rate close to 29 percent during the period between 2018 and 2022, according to their 2018-2022 Global Automotive Aftermarket Telematics report. CalAmp believes the rise in in-vehicle communication options is one of the key factors triggering the growth of the market.

The combination of Pioneer’s aftermarket automotive hardware design and software development legacy, and LoJack’s vehicle theft recovery technology, led to the development of rDrive, a new connected car solution that can allow consumers to upgrade their existing vehicles with advanced connectivity, safety, Wi-Fi and location-based services.

With the latest in LoJack Stolen Vehicle Location Assist and CrashBoxx crash detection, driver assistance, arrival notifications and vehicle health alerts, CalAmp believes drivers will have peace of mind on the roadways.

The company rolled out rDrive this week and it is planned to be available at authorized Pioneer rDrive retailers in the U.S. starting in the spring.

“The exceptional quality, safety and security solutions offered by CalAmp highlight this partnership,” said Ted Cardenas, vice president of marketing for Pioneer Electronics. “Our mutual goal is to give consumers access to best-in-class connected vehicle services, and we believe we’ve created a solution unique in the market today by partnering with CalAmp.

“We are excited to be underway with development on advanced telematics solutions that expand the portfolio of products we are able to offer, helping consumers add new features and technology to the vehicle they already own,” Cardenas continued.

CalAmp president and chief executive officer Michael Burdiek added, “We are thrilled to partner with a trusted consumer brand and leader in electronics products for the U.S. automotive aftermarket.

“Both companies focus on producing quality products that are developed with the end-user in mind. By partnering with Pioneer to create more intelligent and insight-driven products, we’re using what we’ve learned from our customers, to deliver the best possible product for Pioneer customers across multiple vertical markets,” Burdiek went on to say.

Digital Recognition Network (DRN) has new ownership.

According to a news release distributed on Monday morning, Motorola Solutions announced it has acquired VaaS International Holdings, a data and image analytics company that includes DRN and is based in Livermore, Calif., and Fort Worth, Texas.

Motorola Solutions paid a purchase price of $445 million in a combination of cash and equity.

VaaS, a “video analysis as a service” company, is a leading global provider of data and image analytics for vehicle location. The company’s image capture and analysis platform, which includes fixed and mobile license plate reader cameras driven by machine learning and artificial intelligence, can provide vehicle location data to public safety and commercial customers. Its subsidiaries include Vigilant Solutions for law enforcement users and Digital Recognition Network (DRN) for commercial customers, including auto finance companies.

The company’s 2019 revenues are expected to be approximately $100 million.

“Automated license plate recognition is an increasingly powerful tool for law enforcement,” said Greg Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions. “With this acquisition, VaaS will expand our command center software portfolio with the largest shareable database of vehicle location information that can help shorten response times and improve the speed and accuracy of investigations.”

The acquisition announcement comes on the heels of DRN highlighting that it secured several milestones in 2018, including that its live hotlist exceeded 410,000 license plate recognition (LPR) assignments in 2018. That figure represented an increase of 33 percent year-over-year.

“Our extensive license plate data and AI technology have opened new commercial applications of our products,” said Todd Hodnett, co-founder of VaaS and president of Digital Recognition Network.

“We believe commercialization of these new applications can be accelerated under the Motorola Solutions brand and reach, and we look forward to working together to grow and diversify our commercial business,” Hodnett continued.

VaaS’ platform can enable controllable, audited data-sharing across multiple law enforcement agencies. Vehicle location information can help accelerate time to resolution and improve outcomes for public safety agencies, particularly when combined with police records. For example, law enforcement has used VaaS’ solutions to quickly apprehend dangerous suspects and find missing persons.

“We are very excited to be joining Motorola Solutions,” said Shawn Smith, co-founder of VaaS and president of Vigilant Solutions. “This acquisition enables us to continue to serve our existing customers and expand our footprint globally, while at the same time supporting a company with a commitment to innovation and growth, guided by a common purpose that aligns with our mission and culture: ‘To help people be their best in the moments that matter.’ It doesn’t get any better than that.”

The company went on to mention license plate reading is a highly specialized practice that requires purpose-built cameras and analytics. VaaS’ fixed and mobile license plate reader cameras can capture and analyze license plate information, which differs greatly by state and country, even when vehicles are moving at high speeds or in low-visibility weather conditions.