AI is here for car appraisals (finally)

Tractable’s computer vision tech makes the post-accident car appraisal much faster.

Four steps to appraisal heaven (Source: Tractable / TechCrunch)

AI is here for car appraisals (finally)

Car accidents suck.

And, if you are lucky enough to get out of one in good health, you still have to deal with insurance companies.

Enter Tractable, a startup that uses AI-powered computer vision to do remote damage appraisals. Per TechCrunch, it just raised $60m (at a $1B valuation) to make our post-accident life easier.

How it works

People use a smartphone camera to survey vehicle damage, and Tractable immediately spits out an evaluation, which the company says could be a 10x speed improvement over the current teeth-pulling process.

With the tech, the startup is partnered with 20+ of the world’s top 100 insurers and sales are up 6x in the past 2 years (“well into 8 figures”).

Tractable’s automated approach is a boon for its biggest market: Japan, which has an older (and mobile-friendly) population. But the startup expects the US to take the top spot soon.

And it’s not just appraisals

The powerful imaging tech can provide:

  • Property appraisal following natural disasters
  • Car appraisals for used vehicles and those meant to be recycled

In fact, Tractable says its appraisal tool has been used to help recycle as many cars as Tesla sold in 2019 (~368k cars). We actually can’t tell if that’s actually an impressive feat or a jab at Tesla.

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