Making a vehicle inspection efficient process

Motorway, a prominent vehicle marketplace in the UK, identified a need to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their vehicle inspection process. The company embarked on developing an internal tool named “Driver Inspection App”. The app aimed to streamline the inspection and delivery process performed by drivers who collect vehicles from sellers and deliver them to dealers. The goal was to develop the application with a particular focus on improving efficiency, reducing costs, and ensuring the quality of vehicles. The application aimed to transform MotorWay's previously manual and disjointed vehicle inspection process, providing a comprehensive tool for third-party drivers involved in vehicle collection and delivery.

Motorway's primary challenge was the lack of visibility and control over the vehicle collection process, managed by third-party delivery companies. The objectives were to:

• Streamline the inspection process for drivers
• Ensure accurate vehicle data collection
• Provide Motorway with insights for optimizing the process
• Enhance communication and trust among sellers, drivers, and dealers

The project sought to significantly decrease the time-consuming vehicle inspection duration, which could take up to 2 hours. Moreover, the tool was intended to offer a fair process for all parties involved: the drivers, the MotorWay company, and the dealers.

The existing process, managed by a third party, posed communication issues between MotorWay and dealers, due to the lack of shared information. Additionally, the absence of real data on the inspection process further complicated cost management and planning for the business. The design process was tasked to overcome these challenges and bring forth a streamlined, efficient, and transparent inspection and delivery system.

1. Real-Life Shadowing
   The design process commenced with real-life shadowing of vehicle collections and inspections, providing a first-hand understanding of the current process, its challenges, and potential opportunities for improvement.
2. Stakeholder Interviews
   Interviews were conducted with drivers and dealers to understand their requirements, pain points, and deal-breakers. The team aimed to grasp the factors that mattered the most to them and why, thereby ensuring the app adequately addressed their needs.
3. Market Due Diligence
   The team analyzed existing industry applications to understand what worked well and what did not. This allowed us to build on successful aspects and improve upon the pain points in existing systems.
4. Team Visioning & Conceptualization
   After gathering all the information, the team came together to understand the possibilities and challenges, especially technological and architectural ones. This collaboration resulted in a product vision that aimed for rapid build and real-world testing.
5. Information Architecture & Product Vision
   Based on the insights gathered and the challenges identified, the team created an information architecture and a roadmap vision for the product. The process involved detailing each section and understanding the complexities involved, including legal challenges such as access to private data and GDPR compliance. The team agreed to simplify some features and follow a lean approach to enable quick delivery and evolve from there.
6. Iterative Design, prototyoing & Testing
   Each section of the application was designed and tested as prototypes (vehicle details, exterior, wheels & tires, interior, and test drive). These iterative tests allowed the team to address issues, clear misunderstandings, and eliminate confusion from the app.
   Each section was tested with drivers using high-fidelity prototypes. Multiple revisions and improvements were made based on user feedback and observations.
7. Simultaneous Design & Development
   As new sections were designed, the previous ones were developed, incorporating improvements gleaned from testing. The team aimed to reuse as much as possible, from UI/UX patterns to development features. This ensured consistency and efficiency. Additionally, this approach significantly expedited the development process.
   This nuanced design process that prioritized user insights and iterative testing allowed the rapid development of the Driver App. It adeptly catered to user needs while ensuring consistency, efficiency, and accelerated development timelines.

Tools Used
The team utilized Figma for collaborative designing and ProtoPie for creating complex, high-fidelity prototypes.

The very first concept of the app (horizontal mode, dark theme, user journey mirrored the seller's app with UI components).
We learned from it and we pivoted.

The existing process, managed by a third party, posed communication issues between MotorWay and dealers, due to the lack of shared information. Additionally, the absence of real data on the inspection process further complicated cost management and planning for the business. The design process was tasked to overcome these challenges and bring forth a streamlined, efficient, and transparent inspection and delivery system.

Apart from the communication issues between MotorWay and dealers and the lack of real data on the inspection process, several challenges significantly impacted the design approach:

1. Restrictions on Inspection Process
   Ideally, a panel-by-panel inspection would have been more efficient. However, due to the existing system architecture constraints, the team had to adopt a side-by-side approach for vehicle inspection.
2. Limited AI Capabilities:
   While there was potential to harness AI for various aspects of the inspection, the only available trained model was for wheels and tires. This restricted AI's usage only for confirming the quality and damages in these areas.
3. Data Inconsistencies
   The data available, especially from CRM, was inconsistent with varied free text. This demanded a flexible approach in the app design, not only to confirm existing data but also to collect and structure missing or inconsistent information.
4. Design Sacrifices for Brand Consistency
   Testing results indicated that the light mode performed better in terms of usability. However, for brand consistency, the team decided to proceed with a dark mode design, aligning with MotorWay's brand image.
5. Limited Usage of Video Walk-throughs
   The initial design envisioned more extensive use of video to enhance the inspection process. However, bandwidth constraints meant that the usage of videos and walk-throughs had to be limited. This challenge required the design to heavily rely on still images and concise textual information.

The design process began with shadowing several vehicle collections to understand the real-world processes and challenges. Insights gathered were instrumental in shaping the application’s design and functionality.

The app was divided into sections, streamlining data collection in a logical order. First, drivers capture vehicle and seller details, followed by a thorough appraisal of the vehicle. The inspection process was optimized by adopting a pattern based on efficiency; going panel by panel side-by-side, evaluating the exterior, wheels, tires, interior, and more.

1. Data Presentation
   Drivers can see the data provided by sellers in a digestible format, including information about the vehicle prior to inspection.
2. Physical Documents & Seller Details
   Verification of the physical documents of the vehicle and confirmation of the seller’s details
3. Vehicle Appraisal
   Evaluating the car’s state, cross-checking reported damages and identifying any undisclosed damages. The app allows for photo evidence for each damage and discovered issue.

• One Question/Action at a Time:
  Focusing on a singular action or question at each stage greatly improved the efficiency of the inspection process. Given drivers' propensity for distraction during inspections, this methodology ensured their concentration and accurate data capture.
• Step-by-Step Guidance:
  Guiding drivers through each step of the inspection process, starting from the exterior to the interior, ensured a consistent data collection flow. This not only made the process easier for drivers but also reduced the chances of missing any crucial details.
• Confirmation of Declared Damages:
  Confirming and checking all damages declared by the seller significantly reduced the possibility of oversights or duplications. Drivers could efficiently follow the provided steps, confirm existing damages, and document any additional issues they uncovered. This step ensured that no damage was overlooked and that there was a consistent approach to the vehicle's evaluation.
• Time Efficiency Achieved:
  One of the main objectives of the app was to reduce the time taken for vehicle inspections. The app proved to be immensely successful in this respect, bringing down the inspection time from 2 hours to around 40 minutes. Achieving this significant reduction was pivotal, as time efficiency was the primary KPI used to track the app's success.
• Unified Data Presentation
  The app's ability to bring a unified view to the inspection process minimized discrepancies in data reporting.
• Image-based Reporting
  The use of images for marking and confirming damages proved efficient. As the saying goes, "An image is worth a thousand words." This approach provided a standardized way of capturing damages and made it easier for dealers to interpret the reports.
• Flexibility for Extraordinary Scenarios
  The addition of a comment section in each part of the inspection allowed drivers to report any unique or unpredicted scenarios, ensuring no data was left unrecorded.

Through these effective strategies and tools, the application's design played a pivotal role in streamlining and refining the inspection process. This not only benefitted the drivers but also added significant value to MotorWay, its partners, and the broader car resale ecosystem.

Through this project, the team faced various challenges that required flexibility, creativity, and adaptability in design decisions. The final app succeeded in streamlining MotorWay’s vehicle inspection process, ensuring it was efficient, transparent, and fair for all parties. Despite having to make sacrifices and changes in the initial approach due to unforeseen challenges, the team's user-centric design practices and ability to adapt resulted in a tool that adeptly met the needs of drivers, MotorWay, and dealers. The project epitomizes how good design, coupled with a deep understanding of user needs and business constraints, can transform business processes, providing a solid foundation for future improvements and innovations.