New service will help fight vehicle fraud in SA

Only about 15% of car finance applications convert into deals in South Africa and a new digital solutions service called Kredo Mobility is a better filter mechanism to help vehicle dealers identify high-quality prospects from the outset.

Apart from screening potential customers for creditworthiness, the service, available as a subscription from R99 a month, also aims to help prevent fraud, assist dealers in reducing costs and see consumers benefit from a fairer and more competitive environment, said founder and CEO Kriben Reddy.

Dealers now get fragmented data from several sources and Kredo Mobility says it uses digital solutions to streamline processes, identify the right customers quickly, reduce fraud, offer a single view of customers and vehicles and provide real-time car pricing information.

Reddy said preventing fraud was an important part of the service, with criminals becoming more sophisticated in identity theft and cloning vehicles and Kredo Mobility had recently intercepted two fraudsters trying to buy cars using stolen identities.

He said the service would soon also help identify second-hand vehicles that had been repaired after being written off by insurance companies, protecting consumers from unwittingly buying potentially unsafe cars. It would address the problem of previously written off (code 2) vehicles finding their way to salvage yards, being repaired and sold back into the system to unsuspecting individuals or used car dealers who are not aware of the vehicle’s history.

The service will also help prevent cloned vehicles being traded in.

“As verification costs rise, many dealers have been forced to reduce the number of checks they perform, leaving them vulnerable to fraud. Our robust fraud prevention tools address this issue by identifying and eliminating risks early in the process,” said Reddy.

“What we need is a more competitive, transparent and consumer-friendly automotive market, that makes the entire ecosystem from dealer to consumer stronger, more efficient and more sustainable,” said Reddy, a motor industry veteran of 25 years who was formerly head of auto information services at TransUnion and launched the dealer mobile app that became the go-to tool for vehicle verification and valuation.

He is supported by another well-known industry figure, previous head of Gumtree Auto, Nunben Dixon, who is Kredo’s head of sales.

Reddy said car dealers now struggle to access comprehensive, consolidated insights that combine vehicle and customer information and a unified data view could improve dealer decision-making power and enhance competitiveness in a fast-evolving market.

He said by consolidating vehicle and customer data into a single comprehensive view, dealers are given a tool to streamline operations and make more confident decisions. The artificial intelligence-powered insights level the playing field for smaller dealers, giving them the same competitive edge as larger players, he added.