Car dealers have almost doubled the number of valuations carried out via smartphone during the past year, according to new market data from Cap HPI.

Valuations carried out on mobile phones by dealers have increased from 7% to 13.5% in March 2018, the car data specialist said, with tablet valuations having also risen slightly, to 3.8% in 2018 from 2.3% in 2017.

Desktop valuations on PC have dropped from 90% to 82% in the same period, it said.

Derren Martin, head of current valuations at Cap HPI, said: “Our latest insight indicates that dealers increasingly want access to instant valuations hence the growth in mobile and tablet valuations.

“With VRM lookups possible 24/7, 365 days a year, dealers can access car, bike, LCV and HGV valuations immediately, whenever and wherever they want.

“With so many vehicle types and derivatives available, accurately estimating the value of a vehicle takes a great deal of time and effort.

“Getting it wrong can prove costly for dealers and lose them money. Getting it right means vehicle profits are maximised.”

Valuation Anywhere is Cap HPI’s web-based valuations tool for automotive sales professionals.

The data business’ migration to the convenient method of valuation has been justified by figures which showed that the amount of time dealers spend online securing valuations has doubled in the past 12 months to 4.5 minutes per session. 

The number of online valuation sessions has also increased from 6.2 to 9.7 seconds per session on average since March 2017.

Martin said: “Valuation Anywhere enables dealers to easily establish a vehicle’s value by simply typing in its registration and mileage, gaining access to 62,000 car ID’s and mileage-adjusted valuations within seconds.

“We’ll continue to see increased growth of mobile valuations in the industry as dealers continue to reap the benefits of convenience, speed, accuracy and profit maximisation that the service provides.”