Solera (Audatex)
Global auto-estimating incumbent. Audatex is Solera's US brand for collision/body-shop estimating and AI-powered damage assessment. Part of a broader portfolio including claims triage (Qapter), telematics (Spireon), and contents insurance (Enservio).
audatex.us/ ↗Score
- Traction (named carrier deployments)2 carrier deployment(s) with public source.
- 1/5
- Maturity (years since founding)21 years since founding (2005).
- 5/5
- Coverage (insurance lines supported)1 line(s) supported: auto.
- 1/5
- Analyst recognition (Celent / Gartner / Forrester / Everest / ISG)1 mention(s).
- 1/5
What it does
Solera is the legacy auto-estimating incumbent, founded in 2005 by Tony Aquila and anchored by Audatex, the German repair-estimation system acquired from ADP's Claims Services Group in 2006 for $975 million. Audatex itself dates to 1966 in Minden, Germany — the world's first automated vehicle repair system.
Ownership and structure. Solera went public in 2007, then went private again to Vista Equity Partners in March 2016 at a $6.5 billion valuation. Koch Equity Development and Goldman Sachs participated in the buyout. In addition to Audatex, Solera now owns Qapter (AI claims triage and estimating), Spireon (telematics and asset tracking), Enservio (contents insurance), and LoJack, stitched together as an "integrated automotive software" ecosystem.
US market position. Audatex remains a top-three US estimating system by shop adoption (28.3% in a 2018 shop survey, versus CCC's 82.9% and Mitchell's 22.2%). Publicly named US carrier customers are sparse; State Farm appears in case-law materials around Audatex total-loss valuations. The larger US carrier network is not systematically documented in public materials — a material difference from CCC and Mitchell.
AI layer. Solera's modern estimating offering sits alongside two AI systems: XpertEstimate (photo-to-estimate with human review) and Qapter Intelligent Estimating (fully automated line-by-line repair estimates from photos, built on 300 million historical claims and 1 billion images). PZU (Poland) was the first named carrier to deploy Qapter in 2021.
Global footprint. Solera serves 300,000+ global customers across 100+ countries. Audatex-branded operations span North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. In Europe, the estimating legacy is deeper than in the US — Audatex is "standard currency" for many continental insurers.
Risk signals. State Farm is defending class-action litigation in multiple states alleging Audatex's total-loss methodology systematically undervalues vehicles (Arkansas settlement reported in 2024; cases ongoing in Tennessee and elsewhere). For carriers considering Audatex as a sole truth source for valuation, that litigation is a material governance and compliance signal.
Named deployments
- State Farm (US)Autobody News
- PZU (PL)Solera
Known limitations
- Audatex holds third position in US market share — CCC at 82.9%, Mitchell at 22.2%, Audatex at 28.3% in a 2018 survey of collision shops. Its US carrier footprint is smaller and less publicly documented than CCC or Mitchell. (Repairer Driven News)
- State Farm litigation over Audatex total-loss valuations (Arkansas settlement 2024, ongoing cases in other states) signals potential regulatory and reputational risk for carriers implementing the platform's valuation methodology without additional controls. (Autobody News)