San Francisco-based startup AutoFi will introduce its platform, which modeled after marketplace lending, to the auto finance space in the first quarter of 2016, President and co-founder Jonathan Palan told Auto Finance News. The company’s automated platform allows dealers to sell cars and F&I products online, while institutional capital, like hedge funds and pension funds, provides the money for the loans, according to Palan.
“It’s a very simple piece of technology that dealers will integrate into their website that is essentially a ‘finance-me-now’ button next to the car,” Palan said. “It allows them to get a preapproval and send the consumer to the dealership as actual customers, and not just leads. They have a consumer that picks out the car they want, they’ve got financing approved that’s attached to that car, so essentially they’re walking into the dealership, not as blank check, but as a fully vetted package deal.”
Palan said the company is looking to transform the auto industry, but not necessarily disrupt it. “We really want to make sure that everyone is a partner in this, and make the economics work so everyone thinks this is a way to have continuity in the business, for the foreseeable decade,” he said.
