The problems in a workshop or yard
Most of the value on site belongs to someone else. Customer cars sit in the yard overnight with the keys a wall away.
Then there is the argument you cannot win without vision. A customer says the scratch on the rear quarter happened here; you think it arrived that way. Without footage of the car coming through the gate, those disputes end in a goodwill repair.
The parts store is the slow leak — oil, filters, batteries, tyres walking out one at a time, surfacing only when the count is wrong. And a fence jump at 1am shows up as a gap in the row at 7am.
What we install
The walk-through follows the vehicle: gate, yard, floor, parts store, keys.
- Gate and driveway. A camera angled so a plate is readable in the recording as a vehicle comes in, plus a wider view of the car.
- Arrival and handover bay. Cover where vehicles are received, so a car's condition on arrival is on record.
- Yard and perimeter. The parked rows and the fence line, including the dark corner every yard has.
- Parts store and keys. A camera on the parts store door and shelves, and one on the key cabinet.
- Recorder, storage and network. We size the NVR and drives to camera count and retention, cable and mount, set up remote access, then commission and train your team. See installation.
What the AI layer watches for
Footage stays on your recorder. Analysis runs on our own server, from frames pulled off that recorder.
- After-hours intrusion alerts. A scheduled sweep checks the cameras outside opening hours and on closed days. If a person appears, the people you nominate get an email with the camera frame attached. A cooldown stops repeat emails for one event.
- Line crossing and door monitoring. Lines across the gate, roller door or parts store doorway, plus door activity, logged as searchable events.
- Stock movement checks. Goods-movement events in the parts store can be cross-checked against your records, so a movement with no matching sale or inventory deduction is flagged for review.
The system does not read plates automatically and does not identify people. It detects vehicles and people, logs events and alerts you. When you need a plate, you open that event's clip and read it — seconds, not an afternoon of scrubbing. AI analytics sets out each capability.
What you see day to day
For a damage dispute, you search the activity timeline for the gate and arrival cameras around the time the car came in. Each event carries a clip of roughly ten seconds either side, so you see the approach and the handover.
For the parts store it runs the other way: a flagged movement with no paperwork behind it, clip attached. How it works follows an event from camera to inbox.
Practical constraints
- Plate readability is a placement problem. Angle, height, headlight glare and vehicle speed all matter. We aim for a readable plate at one defined point, not everywhere on the driveway.
- Light, dust and washdown. Yards are high contrast at dawn and dusk and unevenly lit at night, so positions and lighting get planned together. Workshop interiors and wash bays are also harder on housings than an office.
- Staff notice and signage. Workplace surveillance rules differ by state, audio is treated more strictly than video, and cameras must not cover toilets or change rooms. Tell staff and sign the site. This is general information, not legal advice — check your state's rules.
- Licensing. In several states installing security equipment is a licensed activity. Ask any installer for their licence and insurance details, including ours.