The remarketing industry will be forced to adapt to support the growth of mobility services, says the Vehicle Remarketing Association (VRA).

As car subscription models, car clubs and ride sharing become more popular among consumers, there will be an increase in demand for inspection services.

Vehicles in a multi-user situations are unlikely to return a base location regularly, or at all. This means condition and damage will need to be assessed on the fly, including at the roadside.

“Doing this means traditional vehicle inspection tools are not going to be appropriate but we need to create tools and processes that are accurate and auditable,” said Sam Watkins, VRA chair (pictured).

Some remarketing companies are already trialling app-based approaches as well as new types of handheld and drive-through scanner technology.

“There’s an appreciation that the problem needs to be tackled and some considerable investment is taking place to arrive at new solutions. It’s a very interesting area and one that we are sure will become even more of discussion point in the future,” Watkins added.

The mobility issue was raised by Nick Reisinger from DEKRA at the VRA’s January meeting, which took place at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire and was attended by more than 40 members.