Austin Subaru (CAG): Automating Vehicle Inspections to Boost Sales, Service, and Customer Trust

Dealership Background

Austin Subaru, part of the Continental Automotive Group, is a high-volume full-service dealership located in Austin, Texas. Known for its strong customer focus and commitment to excellence, the store welcomes a diverse range of vehicles through its service drive every day, from routine maintenance to complex repairs and trade-ins.

With a robust service department handling upwards of 150 vehicles per day, Austin Subaru faces the challenges common to busy dealerships: tight timelines, high customer expectations, and the need for accurate, transparent vehicle assessments. Prior to implementing UVeye, service advisors spent valuable time conducting manual walkarounds and tablet-based inspections, which could add minutes to each check-in and introduce inconsistencies in condition reporting.

On the sales side, appraisal and trade-in workflows relied heavily on subjective inspection methods, making it difficult to achieve uniformity and accuracy across every vehicle, especially in a competitive market where precise valuations can influence profitability and customer trust.

In this environment, Austin Subaru sought a solution that would streamline operational workflows, increase inspection accuracy, and enhance the overall customer experience, reducing ambiguity and building confidence at every touchpoint.

The Challenge

• Advisors manually photographed vehicles (150 cars/day × ~2 minutes each), slowing workflow and reducing throughput.

• Limited ability to identify minor damages, tire wear, or leaks upfront.

• Policy claims and customer disputes, though not frequent, added operational overhead.

The Solution

Austin Subaru installed UVeye’s automated vehicle inspection system across service, sales, PDIs, trade-ins, lease returns, and their 170-vehicle loaner fleet.

As vehicles arrive, they simply drive through the UVeye scanner, instantly capturing:

• Full underbody imagery

• Tire tread depth and tire age

• Exterior damage, dents, dings, and chips

• High-resolution visuals shared directly with customers

Within seconds, customers receive a digital vehicle condition report via text, fully integrated into the dealership’s workflow. Advisors and managers now start every conversation with objective and visual proof.

Impact of UVeye

Faster service drive throughput

Manual walkarounds previously added 2–7 minutes per vehicle purely to document condition. With UVeye:

• Austin Subaru saves hours per day across the service drive
• Check-in time is cut nearly in half
• Advisors spend more time talking to customers, not walking around cars
• Capacity constraints have been lifted, without sacrificing experience

“If you shave three to five minutes off 150 cars a day, that scales massively. We’re delivering a more thorough check-in process in half the time.” — Cody Penna, General Manager

Fewer disputes. Lower policy exposure.

Before UVeye, pre-existing damage disputes were a regular part of daily operations, especially with loaners. In just a few months, UVeye has already limited tens of thousands of dollars in potential exposure, with even small wins adding up quickly:

• Pre-existing damage is documented instantly

• Disputes have “all but disappeared”

• Management no longer spends hours reviewing old videos or security footage

“Those conversations used to be a daily ritual. Now we don’t even have them anymore.” — Cody Penna

Smarter, more accurate appraisals.

For sales and acquisition, UVeye has removed guesswork from the appraisal process with consistent condition data:

• Trade-ins, lease returns, PDIs, and loaners all follow the same process

• Tire wear, hail damage, underbody condition, and exterior defects are clearly documented

• Reconditioning estimates are faster and more accurate

This consistency helped Austin Subaru achieve a major goal of Increasing their used-to-new ratio to over 1:1, even in a challenging market.

“We’ve eliminated almost every variable. We’re no longer guessing — we’re looking at the same data, every time.” — Cody Penna

Higher advisor confidence and productivity

For advisors, UVeye has simplified daily workflows:

• No more manual video walkarounds

• Faster vehicle tagging and documentation

• Easier conversations around tires, alignments, and windshield chips

While exact percentages are still being tracked, the dealership has already seen:

• Increased tire sales

• Increased windshield chip repairs

• Stronger advisor confidence during recommendations

“It’s saved advisors minutes on every check-in and saved management hours each month. And it’s already saved us thousands of dollars.” — Diana, Service Manager

Why It Matters for Austin Subaru

For Austin Subaru, UVeye isn’t just an inspection tool. It’s a cultural shift.

Every vehicle is treated the same. Every customer sees the same truth. Every decision starts with data, not assumptions.

The result is a faster service drive, more confident teams, safer vehicles, and customers who trust what they’re being told because they can see it for themselves.

Conclusion

By implementing UVeye, Austin Subaru transformed how vehicles are inspected, documented, and communicated across both service and sales operations. Automated inspections replaced manual walkarounds, saving time for advisors while delivering consistent, objective condition reports. This shift significantly reduced damage disputes, limited unnecessary policy exposure, and improved alignment, tire, and inspection-driven revenue. Most importantly, UVeye helped Austin Subaru reinforce trust with customers by introducing transparency at every visit, turning inspections into a faster, more reliable, and more profitable part of the dealership experience.