Lease return numbers are going to be “ramping up” for General Motors Financial Co. in the future, so the captive is currently working on “tailoring” the lease experience to each customer through its consumer portal, GMF’s My Account, according to Will Stacy, senior vice president of digital at GM Financial.
“By 2017 and 2018 they’ll be large numbers, and what we’re redefining on our My Account experience is to make that end of lease the best in the industry,” Stacy told Auto Finance News. “When people want to do that, they don’t want to have to do it as a desktop. So that’s why it’s so important for the end of lease process be amazing, and be completely immersed on a mobile device.”
Lease volume “skyrocketed” last year after parent company General Motors announced that its captive would be the exclusive provider of U.S. leases for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac, an agreement that went into effect in February 2015. And GMF’s lease numbers will continue to grow as that relationship progresses, Stacy said.
“Until last year, the portfolio was split between three different lenders – U.S. Bank, Ally, and us,” he said. “But in two years it will be mostly our volume that we’re responsible for, so we have to take that very seriously.”
The industry as a whole is moving towards making self-serve options available to consumers, because it lowers costs and makes the experience more enjoyable for the consumer, Stacy added.
“My job is, I have to make it [My Account] way more than a payment channel, and the ones that make sense for our customers are around education, financial experience, and the vehicle,” he said. “Whether I want to pre-apply to get my next vehicle [lease], or take my car in for service, or know what my car is worth — all those things about the vehicle are pieces we want to build into that system.”
Stacy will be speaking at the upcoming Auto Finance Innovation 2016, a new event that will explore the fintech revolution in automotive lending and leasing. To learn more about Auto Finance Innovation 2016, and register, click here.
