Using Smart Devices to Streamline VIN Scanning

| Products & Solutions

VIN code on smartphone screens

Vehicle identification numbers (VINs) are unique codes used to identify individual vehicles. From cars and motorcycles to scooters and mopeds, VINs allow us to mark and identify specific vehicles. VINs can also be used to collect the records of a vehicle, including its number of past owners, last inspection date, history of major incidents and legal status. But before your organization can access any of this information, you’ll need to input these codes into an online database first—which can take hours if you’re manually typing in VINs for multiple vehicles.

Thankfully, there are simple, cost-effective tools your enterprise can use to complete VIN lookups in a fraction of the time. (As it happens, you probably have a few sitting in the room with you right now.) Today’s smartphones, tablets and wearables have incredible potential for performing data capture functions. And with the right technology, these adaptable mobile devices can be upgraded into highly efficient VIN scanning solutions. Our team here at Scandit works with car dealerships and other automotive enterprises worldwide to make VIN lookups faster, easier and error-free. Today, we’ll be showing you how inexpensive smart device barcode scanners can make this tiresome task effortless.

How Does VIN Scanning Work?

Thanks to innovations in computer vision, camera-equipped smart devices can extract, analyze and understand visual information from single images. By using VIN scanning applications, smart devices can capture and process these codes in seconds, fostering faster and more efficient appraisals. Best of all, these apps can integrate with online databases (such as Carfax or Autocheck), granting access to vehicle specifics at the tap of a touchscreen. The result? No more manual lookups, tedious typing or input errors. Just smoother and more productive business operations across your enterprise.

Benefits of VIN Scanning With Smart Devices

Here are just a few advantages smart device-based VIN scanning solutions offer over manual lookups and traditional hardware:

1. Reduced Labor Costs

Mobilizing your VIN lookups with barcode scanning-enabled smart devices drastically reduces the time required to input and retrieve vehicle information, especially if you’re currently relying on manual lookups. This significantly reduces overall labor costs, driving greater efficiency and profitability for your business.

2. Decreased Hardware Costs

Like dedicated VIN scanning solutions, smart devices offer enterprise-grade scanning performance—processing worn, torn and blurry VIN codes with ease. However, smart device-based solutions cost much less to invest in and replace, mitigating hardware costs and supporting higher margins.

3. Greater Flexibility

VIN scanning-enabled smart devices can efficiently capture codes in any condition at any time or place. This advantage allows you to fully mobilize your VIN scanning operations, retrieving maintenance records and other essential information whenever and wherever it’s needed.

Scandit Software for VIN Scanning Solutions

At Scandit, we leverage computer vision to bring enterprise-grade scanning capabilities to camera-equipped smart devices. Scandit-powered devices can quickly capture damaged or poorly lit VIN codes, ensuring accurate and efficient vehicle appraisals. Our Barcode Scanner SDK software also offers augmented reality feedback to display important vehicle information in real time on the device screen—which helps staff process vehicles faster and easier.

With a Barcode Scanner SDK-powered VIN scanning app, employees can efficiently look up mileage rollbacks, past owners, maintenance records and other vehicle information with a single tap on their smart device. Scandit-powered smart devices act as a more cost-efficient alternative to dedicated VIN scanners. Best of all, the Barcode Scanner SDK is compatible with a wide range of platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows and Linux—making it one of the most versatile VIN scanning solutions on the market.

Thanks to the flexibility of the Barcode Scanner SDK, it’s incredibly easy to implement into your vehicle appraisal workflows. Most employees already use smart device apps daily, making the Scandit solution highly intuitive. Unlike dedicated VIN scanners, SDK-powered devices require almost no training or adoption time—enabling you to deploy them across your entire workforce quickly and smoothly.

Your enterprise can even utilize a BYOD (bring your own device) policy to have staff bring their own smart devices for VIN scanning; they need only to download the VIN-scanning app. This economical approach drives down TCO even further without inhibiting employee performance, generating greater returns for your enterprise. And because staff are already familiar with using these specific smart devices in their daily lives, you won’t have to worry about substantial training or adoption time. With an SDK-powered VIN scanning app, even the most basic employee smart devices can be transformed into enterprise-grade scanning tools—bringing speed and simplicity to your vehicle appraisals.

Make VIN Scanning Simple With Scandit

Ready to learn more about how smart devices equipped with a computer vision-enabled app can streamline your vehicle appraisal efforts? Then be sure to contact Scandit today. We’d be happy to walk you through potential VIN scanning solutions and how you can implement them into your daily workflows quickly and seamlessly. Also, feel free to reach out if you need more insights into mobile data capture or car dealership technology. We’re here to help.