Vietnam’s First-Ever “Credit Scoring” Platform for Used Cars

DNHN - A group of technology engineers from KALAPA Joint Stock Company, known as the KINO team, has developed Vehicle Facts - a platform that provides information on used cars, allowing users to query various details about them.

Vehicle Facts (VF) - a platform providing information on vehicles - is the brainchild of the KINO team, a group of young and creative individuals born in the 2010s from KALAPA Joint Stock Company. They brought this idea to the Digital Data For Life competition, jointly organised by the Ministry of Public Security and Hanoi University of Science and Technology. After competing against nearly 200 teams, including many experienced figures in the country’s technology sector, Team KINO ranked fourth among the top five outstanding entries.

The KINO team’s idea originated from observing Vietnam’s used car market, which has a high demand driven by factors such as economic growth, rising incomes, a high urbanisation rate, and increasing prices of new cars. This is further reflected in a report by market research firm Statista, which estimates that the value of the used car market in Vietnam reached approximately 450,000 billion VND in 2022. This market is projected to continue growing in the coming years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% from 2023 to 2028.

However, buying and selling used cars, as well as purchasing insurance for used vehicles in Vietnam, currently relies on the subjective judgement of those involved, without any specific metrics for sellers to set prices, buyers to make informed decisions, or insurance companies to determine appropriate premiums for used cars. Consequently, insurance premiums for used cars in Vietnam are relatively high and standardised, lacking a solid basis for assessment.

Inspired by this reality, the KINO technology engineers from KALAPA Joint Stock Company developed the Vehicle Facts platform. This platform provides information on vehicles, allowing users to query various details about used cars and generate a “credit score” for each specific vehicle. The information groups provided by Vehicle Facts include:

- Vehicle information lookup: The product will provide users with information about a vehicle’s history, current condition, and future usability. Users only need to enter the vehicle’s VIN and pay a service fee to receive a report on the vehicle’s condition.

- Transparent and authentic vehicle data: This information is collected from various data sources, including government databases, insurance company databases, and auto repair centre databases.

- Website interface: The product is designed to be user-friendly, easy to use, and accessible.

- API integration: The service integrates information into existing systems for insurance providers, car buyers and sellers, etc.

- Data application system: Vehicle scores, vehicle valuation, anomaly detection, etc.

Nguyen Doan Quan, Project Leader of Vehicle Facts, said: “Our ambition is to establish a mechanism where sellers, buyers, auto repair facilities and centres, insurance organisations, and government regulatory bodies can interact and exchange data regularly. This will primarily serve the practical needs of users in their daily lives, boost the economy for businesses related to the automotive sector, and support the government in managing urban traffic. This also aligns with the national digital transformation goal that the government is pursuing. This is what sets Vehicle Facts apart from other platforms worldwide.”

Globally, there are already data centres for vehicles such as CarFax and AutoCheck. These are leading platforms worldwide in the use of vehicle data. In Vietnam, there have been websites that allow users to view vehicles involved in accidents and collisions, but most of these are spontaneous, lack information authenticity, and have insufficient data coverage. Therefore, Vehicle Facts will be the first comprehensive data centre for vehicles in Vietnam, initially focusing on cars. In addition to providing information, Vehicle Facts also offers data applications such as vehicle scoring, vehicle price prediction, anomaly detection, and more.

Tu Anh