With inventory options not so plentiful right now, dealers certainly want to know as much as possible about a used vehicle — especially one they’re buying exclusively online and do not have the opportunity to kick tires and sit behind the wheel before the hammer falls.

In response to client feedback, Manheim is introducing an enhanced vehicle inspection solution that the company said on Thursday can provide greater levels of detail for Manheim Express vehicles.

According to a news release, this move comes at a time when sales through the Manheim Express digital buying and selling app are skyrocketing, increasing by nearly 230% from 2020 to 2021.

“The key to making digital buying as good as — or even better than — buying in person is to give clients deep insights about the vehicles they’re considering,” Manheim Digital associate vice president Connie Suozzo said in the news release.

“By bringing a more comprehensive and efficient inspection to Manheim Express’ industry-leading condition tools, we’re giving clients a new level of detail to inform their listing and buying decisions,” Suozzo continued.

Manheim highlighted the new inspection solution can provide a more robust and efficient process for users to assess a vehicle’s exact condition and make even better listing and buying decisions. It builds on condition information produced by the Manheim Express app such as:

— Immersive, 360-degree images

— Movable images to see depth of damage

— Audio and video tags to assess engine noise

— Interior 360s

The new inspection features now include:

• Filtering enables inspection questions to be generated based on key vehicle description information, making the condition report more relevant to the specific vehicle for buyers and sellers.

• Multi-select allows more than one answer to a given question, making the condition report crystal clear by defining all issues for a given area together. For example, inspectors can now note that a hood has both a dent and prior substandard repair, rather than just a damaged hood.

• Free-form text enables inspectors to provide additional context to items uncovered during the inspection, helping clients more fully understand the vehicle’s condition.

• Numeric entry allows a quantity to be selected for some items, enabling clients to better understand the magnitude of the damage, such as the number of dents on a door.

• Nested questions generate specific questions based on answers to previous questions, driving efficiencies in the inspection and the resulting condition report.

Manheim pointed out these enhancements enrich the user experience for both buyers and sellers.

The company said buyers can have greater confidence in their digital purchases by gaining a deeper understanding of the vehicle’s condition before buying.

Manheim added sellers get greater vehicle marketability, an expanded buyer audience resulting from the improved condition information and benefit from increased efficiencies, as the new process can help reduce the time and effort needed to complete an inspection.

Additionally, Manheim noted that the enhanced information will display in a familiar user interface format, meaning no major learning curve.

“Dealers will simply notice the additional level of detail and vehicle-specific questions within a Manheim Express condition report,” the company said.